A Padawan, a Master and a Matchmaker
by SWFicWriters
Summary: Twelve-year-old Kaden Lightbane is strong in the Force; so strong that he is in danger of losing his chance at becoming a Jedi padawan and falling to the Dark Side. Guiding him towards knighthood is a job that only one master can fulfill... Warning: this story contains spanking. We do not endorse the spanking of real children. Obviously, this is fiction.
1. Chapter 1

Jedi Master Eeth Koth was making his way to the initiates' gym in long, purposeful strides. He had been assigned the senior initiates' advanced sparring class once again; the same class from which he had once recruited his current padawan, Raven Trebeck. There was no risk of such a thing happening now, however, for Raven, at seventeen years of age, was nowhere close to being knighted. She was old enough to leave on the occasional mission without her master's supervision, though. Currently, she was part of a team composed of several senior padawans sent to retrieve a number of infants for training at the Temple, which meant that Eeth, for the first time in several years, was actually getting to spend some time at the Temple alone and had some free time on his hands. So here he was, about to teach a class of eight initiates, all of whom were about eleven to twelve years old and had been enrolled because of their remarkable level of skill with a saber.

The door to the gym was open, and the initiates were already there; their excited chatter was loud enough to be heard at the other end of the Temple, Eeth thought.

There was reason for that chatter. By the time everyone arrived for Eeth's class, the few rumours that spread throughout crèche had morphed into terrifying accounts in which friends of friends saw him paddle his apprentice in the hallway with a huge paddle, or drag her from a landing platform by her braid. "No, really, why would anyone lie about something like that?" Lyle said.

"... A friend of mine said she saw him drag a boy out of the pool by his ear, lead him into the refreshers and whale the tar out of him. Apparently, she could hear the smacks from outside, that's how loud it was," Lily, a small humanoid girl added.

"Yeah, and I overheard someone saying that he eats children," a Clawdite boy named Drebin stated, drawing raised brows and incredulous expressions from a few of the initiates.

"I'm sure he don't eat younglings. Eesh, they was probably just joking around," Rezek, the Ishi Tibb guffawed, but, yeah, the jury was still out.

Like the others, Kade listened to these accounts with an attempt at what he hoped was bravery and was about to state that the councillor didn't scare him at all when the sound of a door slamming shut had seven pairs of eyes, and one set of eyestalks, staring as the subject of their rumour mill strode into the room.

Upon entering class, Eeth always closed the door behind himself firmly; this had the beneficial side effect of making things all the more embarrassing for potential late-comers. He made his way to the middle of the room and barked: "Silence!"

You could hear a pin drop. Lyle gasped, Lily jumped, Rezek swallowed, and Drebin changed from his usual pale green pallor to a bright purple. Kade closed his eyes for a moment, then turned casually in an effort at looking nonplussed.

"Good morning, initiates," Eeth said calmly, standing in front of the small group and folding his arms across his chest. "I am Jedi master Eeth Koth, and I will be your teacher in this cycle. All of you have been enrolled in this class because you have shown exceptional skill at lightsaber combat. I have been asked to provide you with more of a challenge than your usual classes give you, and that is what I intend to do. But first, let me see who I am dealing with."

He pulled a data pad out of his pocket and called up the names in a clipped tone, registering which of the initiates each name belonged to. Then, without losing any time, he started a warm-up routine that was more than thorough. In his experience, many of the younglings who wielded a lightsaber with particular ease tended to neglect the physical aspects of their training because it was so simple for them to beat their opponents on pure skill. One of the objectives of this thrice-weekly class, in Eeth's opinion, should be to rectify that. Building up strength and endurance were important for young Jedi, and it was also a way to see whether they possessed the perseverance necessary for the career they had chosen.

"Force, I'm gonna die," Drebin panted as he met Lily's equally exhausted gaze. They had been running around the gym for a solid five minutes now. Why they had to do this, the initiates did not know.

"Yeah, it's not like I have to run from fights," Kade added, earning himself a shove from Lyle as he tried running past him.

"Don't push in!" Lyle snapped.

"We're supposed to be running, not crawling. C'mon, Lyle, you're not still mad that I kicked your ass last match, are you?" Kade asked, a grin on his face. He knew he was good; in fact, he was the best fighter in the room outside of Eeth and everyone knew it.

Lyle just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, we'll see who kicks whose ass this time," he shot back as they approached the next task which looked like a bunch of skipping ropes and a place to do push-ups.

"For! Real!" Lily complained.

"If you still have enough breath for chatting, this warm-up is obviously not challenging enough," Eeth snapped. "One rope each. Come on, what are you waiting for? You know what to do with a skipping rope, don't you?"

He usually started his classes like this; he felt it was easier and, in a way, fairer to make his expectations clear from the beginning. Even if he did not lower them during the course of the class, his students would eventually feel that it was becoming easier to meet them. What he achieved, in any case, was that students took his classes seriously.

Lily grabbed the rope but not without a glare. He was a slave driver!

Kade agreed, not to mention he could count the amount of times he'd 'skipped' on his hands. Not only was it a girly exercise but it always left him feeling shell-shocked and jarred.

"This sucks!" Rezek said, having read the expression on his comrade's face with uncanny accuracy. Just then the other three caught up, and lacking the breath to complain, grabbed a rope each and started.

By the time Eeth called them to the next task, they were all starting to slow down.

Eeth barked at one of the initiates who had stopped before having been told to. Then he ordered the group to do push-ups, thirty each. These were senior initiates, after all, all of whom underwent physical training every day. He saw no need to pamper them.

"Great move," Quin, a Zabrak boy, stated sarcastically as Lyle shouldered past him, blaming him for their round of pushups.

"Yeah, real clever, shit for brains," Kade added, frowning. The last thing any of them wanted at the moment was extra work.

"Oh, the push-ups would have been in your future anyway," Eeth said dryly, overhearing Kade's remark. "How can you become a good fighter without building up muscle power? And dispense with the insults, please. Now get started if you want to do any actual sparring today."

"I'm already a good fighter. That's why I'm here," Kaden stated confidently.

"Yeah, we all are, this is just gonna make our arms too sore to hold a saber," Lily added, her small muscles already burning, and she was only half way through.

"If it is going to make your arms sore, your arms obviously are not strong enough and need more practice," Eeth said, stony-faced. "And, initiate Kaden, I am sure you have been taught that arrogance is not becoming of a Jedi. You might be a better fighter than the average initiate, but I assure you you still have much to learn. And that includes following orders without backtalk. Any further complaints, and the person who utters them can continue to do muscle-building exercises for the rest of the lesson while the others improve their saber skills. Your choice."

"Some choice…." Kaden mumbled beneath his breath, but did as he was told; there was no way he was wasting a sparring session doing push-ups and the like. And he wasn't the only one who thought like that, the entire class remained silent except for the occasional grunt of effort and groan of pain; this was hard on them but not undoable.

"Alright," Eeth said when the last of them had finished and they stood before him, all of them showing signs of physical exertion (as they should). "For a start, I want to see what each of you can do."

He positioned four of them at an even distance from each other throughout the gym and told them: "Your task is simple. You spar against whatever opponent comes to face you until they switch."

Then he told the other four: "You are going to pick an opponent each and spar against him or her until I call on you to switch. Then you move to the next opponent in a clockwise direction. Five minutes per match. Go ahead."

"Oh, yay for you," Drebin whispered teasingly, nudging Lily playfully as he noted who was standing opposite her.

The girl groaned at seeing Kade facing off against her. No one could beat him and it was exhausting trying. Sighing, she ignited her saber and, when Eeth gave the word, sprang forward; if she was going down, she was gonna do it in style.

Kade was focused and in his element. He didn't even know who was opposite him; he didn't really need to know as all he wanted to do was win, and win well.

"That's gotta be a new record," he said with a grin, having taken the girl down in the first five seconds, and was standing back waiting for her to recover. He had not hurt her, but neither had he cut her any slack; this was a fight, after all.

Eeth did not expect any of his students to cut each other 'slack' he wanted to see what they could do, and if any of them could easily beat all the others, then that was the way it was. It was quite apparent that that person was Kaden. That was not what worried Eeth. Something was ... off, he felt, something about the boy's style, or maybe his attitude. There was a lot of aggression in him, and he seemed to channel all of that into his saber. Eeth felt reminded of Mace Windu a little. The man had found a way to tame that aggression and turn it into a positive force, but the fate of his two apprentices showed that this was not an easy thing to accomplish. Eeth had seen a number of Jedi fall to the Dark Side over the years, and among them had been many accomplished fighters who had gotten carried away by ambition and overconfidence. Not showing any of his thoughts, he called the group together.

"Next exercise," he said. "You, you, you and you" - he pointed at three random initiates, plus Kaden - "will defend yourselves, but nothing more. I don't want to see any aggressive moves from you. Block all attacks as best you can, but no counter-attacks. The other four, pick a partner each and attack."

He was interested to see how Kaden was going to deal with this exercise.

Lyle grinned as he faced Kade. This was excellent; he had a chance to pay the boy back for beating him all those times and there wasn't anything Kade could do about it. Lyle darted forward fully intending to take his opponent down!

"Pfff! Crude and clumsy," Kade stated nonchalantly, sidestepping the attack. He had deliberately kept his saber down, however, when Lyle came at him with an overhead strike, he blocked with such ferocity that it almost knocked the boy off his feet. "Hey, no attacking, remember," Lyle chided.

"That wasn't attacking, that was blocking. THIS is attacking," Kade corrected, and with that, he lunged, extending the next block a few inches forward and knocking the boy's saber from his hand. "See the difference?" he asked, an edge of smugness in his tone as his opponent brushed himself off.

Before Kaden had any chance to display further smugness, Eeth's hand clamped around his ear and pulled him towards a bench. Without saying a word, Eeth bent the boy forward, pulled his pants down and brought down his paddle – which he usually had tucked into his belt – onto his bottom, hard.

"When I give instructions, initiate Kaden, I expect to be obeyed," he said icily and applied the paddle a second time with gusto. "I did not ask you to comment on your opponent's actions, and I certainly did not ask you to disarm him."

He brought down a third swat that was so hard it practically rang off the walls. "Am I getting through to you at all?" he inquired, his voice hard.

Several lightsabers stopped mid-fight as the sound of that first smack rang throughout the room. "Ouch… That's gotta hurt," Rezek winced in sympathy, his hand unconsciously moving back to cover his backside as the next swat landed.

Despite having just been knocked on his ass, Lyle too felt sympathy for the boy because, Force, that looked like it hurt like a bastard.

Kade for his part had not said a word since being dragged from the floor, if you didn't include the yelp of pain at having been taken by the ear, that was. Rezek and Lyle were correct, though, this hurt like nothing else. He grunted, hissed and by the third came up on his toes, but remained bent over, his head down, tunic flipped up and backside up. "Yes. Sir," he managed to get out through gritted teeth. He could feel three distinct patches of scalded skin starting to goose-bump as it rose into a welt. He didn't know how many more of those he could take but wasn't about to humiliate himself by begging.

The boy was nothing if not plucky, Eeth had to grant him that. Nor did he have it in for Kade; he simply felt that the boy needed to learn a lesson and learn it fast if he wanted to make it to padawanhood, let alone knighthood.

"Alright," he said perfectly calmly, putting the paddle back to its place in his belt. "Get up, pull up your pants and assume a ready stance. I will show you what I had meant for you to do. You attack, I block."

All the boy wanted to do was run to the refresher and stick his ass in the basin. However, with everyone watching he could hardly show how much it had hurt him, and it had really hurt. Instead, he steadily got to his feet, calmly pulled up his trousers and turned to face the Jedi with as much of a neutral expression as he could muster, considering. He did his best to ignore the fire blazing across his rear end and assumed a ready stance. The boy wanted to win, but he wasn't delusional; he stood no chance against Eeth and he knew that. The prospect of losing rankled but he pushed it down, and when Eeth gave the command, Kade flew at him, his attacks precise and powerful enough to knock most initiates flat.

Eeth blocked or dodged all of Kade's attacks fast and efficiently, but he did no more than that. There was no aggression in what he was doing; he limited himself to what was needed to deflect the attacks, but did not try to turn them against the boy or to get the upper hand.

The harder Kade pushed the more aggressive his attacks became until the boy was putting full force behind each blow, his frustration palpable, not that it seemed to make a scrap of difference to the councillor who continued to parry and dodge his attacks as if he were swatting off an annoying insect. This continued for a while, much to Kade's frustration, until Eeth told him to stop.

"This is what I had meant for you to do, initiate," he told him. "Now go back to your partner and do just that. The rest of you, stop gawking and resume your exercise."

Lily dropped her lightsaber and Drebin started turning purple again as Eeth's attention turned to the gawking onlookers. Needless to say the room was instantly busy once again, all except for Kade who remained in a ready position. "No, wait, I'm not ready to quit, I want to go again," he said, focusing on calming his breath and centring himself. His eyes narrowed in determination; Kade hated to lose and would fight until the end if allowed to.

"Initiate, I gave you an order, and you will not tell me 'no'," Eeth said in a dangerously low voice. "I think we will have to have a thorough discussion about appropriate behaviour in class, but not now. Your attitude has cost the class enough time already. Disignite your saber, pick a corner and put your nose into it until the class is finished. Initiate Lyle, I am going to work with you."

Lyle looked on wide-eyed. That boy was out of his mind, he thought, shaking his head and feeling a little worried; would Eeth kill him? Surely not…

"Nah, don't worry he ain't gonna die, but I don't think he's gonna be happy," Rezek commented as he led the fight past his friend. Rezek had an uncanny ability to read the thoughts and emotions of others, something his crèche master had taken a personal interest in. In fact, he was considering taking the boy on as his apprentice, not that Rezek knew anything of this, he tended to struggle when it came to predicting his own future.

"Hey, stay out of my head," Lyle grumbled good-naturedly.

Meanwhile, Kade was staring at the imposing man as if he'd just grown horns – oh, wait a minute, he already had those. Swallowing, the initiate glared at him for a moment longer before dropping his gaze, unable to maintain it without starting to fidget. Wordlessly, he thumbed the igniter on his saber and moved to the corner furthest away from the class; if he had to miss out, he wanted to be as far away from the fun as possible. This sucked, this class sucked and most of all, Eeth sucked! he thought, his frustration beginning to ebb but not before he had laid his boot into the corner, hard!

Eeth ignored that little outburst for now. Obviously, the boy had a temper. Well, that was not unusual in children; nor was it unusual for them to be frustrated with being disciplined. "Not unusual", however, did not equal "acceptable", at least not in young Jedi.

For now, Eeth had a class to teach. He assumed a ready stance opposite Lyle and motioned for him to continue the attack-and-block exercise.

Lyle blanched but assumed a ready stance as he faced off against the Jedi master, his saber raised and ready to defend; he was going to die he was sure of it.

Fortunately, and much to the boy's relief, he did indeed survive, and despite Lily earning a swat for not paying attention, the class continued without further incident.

Eeth had the initiates attack and block for a few minutes longer, having them switch sides every minute or so.

When he thought he had their measure, he started teaching them an advanced attack sequence that was not part of the standard initiates' curriculum but that all of the group were going to be able to handle. He finished the class off with a round of freestyle sparring. Seeing as they were one person short, he paired up the two - comparatively speaking - weakest students with Drebin, who was the strongest after Kaden. As usual, the initiates had great fun with this, and they all tried to make use of what he had taught them with some degree of success. None of them showed the amount of ambition and outright aggression in their fighting that Kaden did, though.

Finally, Eeth commended the class on their effort and dismissed them, instructing them to practice the newly-learned attack sequence in their free time. They would reconvene the day after tomorrow. Only when the last of them had left did he say calmly: "Initiate Kaden, come here." He was standing in the middle of the gym, arms folded across his chest, and waited for the initiate to comply.

Kade had listened to the lesson for a while before tuning out. After all, he could still win against any of them despite the new attack sequence they were learning. In fact it just made him all the more determined to prove himself; he would still beat them all and without special help from Eeth. He was still busy brooding over his exile when Eeth called his name. Suddenly he didn't feel quite as righteous as before. Swallowing his apprehension, he slowly made his way to where the man stood and mimicked his pose.

"Initiate, I would like to know whether you have any idea why this happened," Eeth said quietly. "Specifically, why did you end up having to spend much of a class you undoubtedly thought you would excel at in a corner?"

Kade shrugged. "Because you didn't want to fight me," he answered simply.

"Oh?" Eeth asked, raising his eyebrows. "And I paddled you because I gave you instructions that were impossible for you to follow? Are you sure that you cannot come up with a better answer than that if you try very hard?"

Having successfully blocked out the burn in his backside, Kade wasn't overjoyed at having it brought back to life as Eeth drew his attention to it once again. "If you did, that wasn't very fair," he replied without a hint of sarcasm, and took a moment to consider his options, none of which were appealing, given his circumstances. Decision made, he shifted his weight slightly, the only indication that he was feeling uneasy under the scrutinising glare of councillor Koth. "Because I didn't follow orders," he spoke quietly.

"That is correct," Eeth replied firmly. "You disobeyed, twice. And I think we can agree that this is entirely against your training. Now, what made it so hard for you to follow my orders?"

"Lyle was goading me, and I wanted another chance to fight you," he answered honestly.

"So, fighting whenever you feel like fighting is more important for you than following orders?" Eeth inquired. "Is that what you're saying?"

"No, I just wanted another chance, it's not like I tried attacking you," he replied evenly.

"I did not imply that you tried attacking me," Eeth said, just as evenly. "This is about your disobedience. It is also about your attitude towards sparring. You are doubtlessly very talented, but your skills are taking you into a very dangerous direction: one where the fight is a purpose in itself, and where winning is all that is important. I am not happy about your disobedience, but more importantly, I am concerned about the reasons behind it. Has your crèche master ever addressed this issue with you?"

Kade worked hard to keep his expression neutral and not reveal anything of the frustration Eeth's words evoked in him. "She has," the boy offered, however, he wasn't keen on discussing the particulars. "I'm sorry I disobeyed you, I will work harder next time," he said truthfully, and he really would try; Kade was generally a pretty good kid and didn't deliberately go out of his way to be a nuisance.

Another thing this initiate did not go out of his way to do was to give away anything of what he was thinking or feeling. Well, Eeth could sympathise with that although it did little to put his concerns to rest. But he could see no point in continuing this discussion right now; he would simply have to make his expectations clear and think further about what to do with the boy. "I am not asking you to work harder, I am asking you to follow my instructions the next time," he told Kaden. "Whether you like them or not. When I tell you to stop fighting, you do just that. When I tell you to block only, you block, and you do not try to turn it into an attack. I don't care who was goading you, you will still do as you are told. I will never let disobedience go unpunished, least of all in a sparring class. Bend over and touch your toes."

And that was exactly what he was going to work harder at doing, although as the councillor continued lecturing, the initiate decided it was best to keep his comments to himself. By the time he was done, Kade was feeling guilty and although he did not show it, the order to bend over caught him off guard. He swallowed, acutely aware of what was about to happen. If the three smacks he'd gotten earlier were anything to go by, he wasn't going to enjoy this. Working hard to keep from showing his fear, Kade took a deep breath and bent over, his palms resting on the tips of his boots.

"If you ever have to receive another paddling from me for disobedience, it is going to be on your bare bottom," Eeth informed the hapless initiate. For now, he let him keep his pants up, but compensated for this by making the swat harder than he would otherwise have and aiming it right at the undercurve of the boy's bottom where he would feel it for the rest of the day whenever he was sitting down. Five more swats followed, all equally hard and all on the same area of Kade's bottom. Eeth saw no reason to draw this out; no doubt the boy had other classes to attend. "Alright, initiate, up you get," he said, putting the paddle back into his belt.

Eeth's words did not garner a response from Kade. However, as the first smack landed on his already sensitive undercurve, the boy almost shot bolt upright. Thankfully, his pride would not allow such a display of weakness and he managed to remain in position despite having to endure what was quite possibly the hardest paddling of his young life. He gripped the tops of his boots so tightly his knuckles were white, but still Kaden endured. He let out a grunt at the third, hissed at the fourth and the last two brought tears to his eyes, not that he would allow them to fall. "Ahhh," he hissed quietly, eyes squinted closed in pain as he rose and turned to face the man. His backside was roasted and there was no way he was going to be able to sit during his next lessons without making what happened obvious to everyone; he would have to skip, there was no other choice, he thought as his eyes opened slowly to glare daggers at the man responsible. "Sorry I was disobedient," he managed to get out while gripping handfuls of tunic to keep his hands at his sides. There was no way he was going to rub or show how much it hurt, and Force did it really, really fucking hurt!

"Apology accepted," Eeth replied calmly, and then did something he very rarely did: He bend forward to come face to face with Kaden. "Initiate, you are doubtlessly feeling hard done-by," he said quietly, looking Kaden into the eyes. "However, you need to learn from this or you will end up with far more serious problems than a smarting bottom. If you are chosen as a padawan and if your goal is to become a Jedi Knight, you will eventually need to use your lightsaber for real, against living opponents. With the attitude you are currently displaying, you will end up killing needlessly, and you know what that would mean. I do not want that to happen, nor do I think you do - at least I hope you do not. Try to meditate about it." He straightened and inclined his head towards Kaden. "Off you go," he said. "I will see you the day after tomorrow."

When Eeth met his eye the boy was forced to stare at his boots for a moment lest the tears he was holding back get the jump on him; there was no way he was going to cry, no matter what the man said. Swallowing, he got himself together and managed to meet the councillor's gaze with his own determined expression. "I will," he said quietly, and bowed before calmly heading for the door. Despite his best effort to act like nothing had happened, it was still obvious that he was walking a little stiffly as he made his way towards crèche. He wasn't going to class so instead of heading to the pool where he was meant to be next, Kaden made directly for his room. Once there, he lay face down on his bed and cried, finally feeling safe enough to release the emotions Eeth had stirred up in him, which were as much a result of the man's words as they were a result of his paddle.


	2. Chapter 2

Having finished teaching his initiates' sparring class, Eeth was free for the rest of the morning. He cleared away the equipment and then made his way home, deep in thought. Something told him that this boy was worth an effort. He would need a lot of guidance, though; maybe more than a crèche master was able to give. In any case, a look at Kaden's file told him that there was less than half a year left until he turned thirteen. He would need to find a master soon. If he did not... Eeth somehow could not see him working with AgriCorps, as a teacher or healer. Most likely, the temptation to use his fighting skills would only grow stronger if Kade did not receive guidance from a Jedi.

He tapped his fingers on the table, a thoughtful frown on his face, and finally dialled the number of Kaden's crèche master.

"Master K'Mi," he said politely. "I hope I am not inconveniencing you? I am calling to talk to you about one of your initiates, one Kaden Lightbane. He was in my advanced sparring class this morning."

Master K'Mi was busy organising a group of her students for a routine visit to the healers when her commlink flashed. "Remain in line and sit on your bottoms, please," she instructed in a tone that was almost a purr. K'Mi loved her students dearly, and their giggles kept the smile on her face even as she answer the call.

"Greetings, Master Koth, how can I be of assistance to you?" she spoke softly, then hearing Kaden's name, sighed; he'd had problems with his weapons teachers before. "I see. Excuse me for one moment, please." The Kushiban paused the communication briefly and instructed one of the senior initiates to begin a game of "name that planet" before entering the privacy of her office; she did not want Kaden to be embarrassed if the others overheard their conversation. "Has Kaden had an accident?" She enquired, tilting her head to one side in a Kushiban gesture of politeness. She did not expect this but had to be certain.

"No," Eeth replied. "He did make the acquaintance of my paddle and I expect his bottom is hurting quite a bit, but that is not the reason for which I am calling. I am well able to deal with disciplinary matters. But with Kaden, it is more than that. He seems to have issues. He is more competitive and ambitious, even outright aggressive, than is healthy in a Jedi initiate. I was wondering whether you had any insights on this issue."

The Kushiban nodded sympathetically, her long ears rocking with the gesture. "Kaden is accustomed to physical discipline, but I will check on him," she assured the man.

Her eyes turned from golden to dark brown, mimicking Eeth's as she thought about his question. "Kaden is a special child, very strong in the Force and talented with a lightsaber. I have had similar reports from his weapons masters over the years, but it would appear my efforts to guide him through this are not enough; he has become more aggressive recently, perhaps due to his pending birthday," she mused aloud. "Yes, I fear the AgriCorps is no place for this youngling. If left without firm guidance he may fall. I feel young Kaden needs more personal attention than I am able to provide, but perhaps the Force will lead him to a master. I would like to see that day."

"Yes, that is my feeling as well," Eeth replied. "When you are saying you have had similar reports from his weapons masters, are you implying that Kaden only has such issues with regard to his lightsaber training? Or is he generally an aggressive child? Does he have difficulties with the concept of obedience?"

"Kaden understands his duty. Nevertheless, he requires more discipline and a firmer approach than most younglings under my care. He is typically a gentle boy," K'Mi said in a whimsical tone. "It is peculiar that lightsaber training and combat cause such a change; one could say that it is almost as if he becomes another child, slipping into an arrogant, aggressive demeanour. Kaden has great potential; however, his abilities are beginning to taint him with arrogance. If he cannot learn to channel such emotions in a positive way, he must learn to release them into the Force. I have spent some time guiding him through such meditations but it would appear this has been ineffective."

"I see," Eeth said thoughtfully. "That was what I thought. Clearly, the boy needs a master, and a capable one. My impression is that this is a boy who has the potential to do great things for the Order – but without proper guidance, he will be just as capable of doing great evil. I would not want that to happen. I will think more about this."

And that was what Eeth spent the rest of his day doing. He sat at his table for a long time, thinking and making notes. He talked to his former padawan, Lakhri. He talked to several of his fellow Council members. He studied his lists, crossed out names and highlighted others. Ultimately, he knew, of course, that this was not up to him to decide; any pairing would only work if it was the will of the Force and if the people involved felt some connection. Nevertheless, it was also a matter of personality, and he thought he had a certain idea of the type of master that someone like Kade would need. Strict, yes, but not in the same way that Eeth was strict; Eeth had a feeling that his own approach would only lead the boy to try and tough it out and to withdraw emotionally. A more empathic person might be needed; someone with a distinctly non-aggressive nature. And preferably someone with experience in handling youngsters.

Drex Zaryth was the first person on Eeth's list, precisely because he had that experience. And the man was adamant in claiming that he was too old to handle another padawan.

"Eeth, I will be eighty at least by the time the child is knighted," he said calmly, his silver eyes staring past Eeth as they talked on the comm. "Who knows whether I would ever be able to take him or her on missions?"

"You know there are solutions for that," Eeth replied. "It has happened before. A younger Jedi could help. You and your padawan could be part of bigger teams. If a match is Force-willed, who are we to decide that it is impossible?"

"But we don't know it is Force-willed," Drex replied with a slight smile. "I'm not saying no, Eeth. But before you draw me into this, explore other options. Please."

There was not much that Eeth could say to counter that, so, after some thought, the next person he called was Knight Mal Shekkaf. The man was comparatively young although a few years had passed since Eeth had worked with him on a mission to Sindal; but he seemed to have the right type of personality, he had acquired quite some mission experience, had done a lot of teaching lately, and Eeth knew he was actively looking for a padawan.

* * *

Two days later, the initiates were gathered for their next sparring class. This time, Eeth did not enter the gym alone, but with Shekkaf at his side.

"Good morning, initiates," he said crisply. "I have recruited some assistance. You will learn to defend yourselves against multiple opponents today, and Knight Shekkaf has thankfully agreed to help me work with you on this. Now, let us start our warm-up."

He was just as thorough as the last time with the sole difference that this time around, nobody dared utter a single complaint.

When they were done, Eeth broke the group into two teams of three and one of two. Mal was added to the third team. Eeth, however, did purposefully not team up Mal with Kaden in the first round. First of all, he did not want to be too obvious, and secondly, giving Mal a chance to work with a few other youngsters would give him a better idea of who he was dealing with when it came to Kaden. Mal, incidentally, had no idea which of the initiates in the group was the one Eeth had talked to him about; Eeth had been very careful not even to reveal the child's gender. He thought the whole thing would work better that way.

"Two out of each group attack, the third person defends themselves," he said. "We will switch every few minutes so every person gets a chance at blocking. Now, two important things before we start. Make it serious attacks, but not aggressive ones, and leave your opponent a chance to dodge or block. The point of this exercise is not for the attackers to win, but for everyone to find out how it is to have to defend themselves against multiple opponents and to analyse their weaknesses. Which is my second point - while you defend yourself, pay attention to the things that go wrong and to the difficulties you experience. We will work on strategies to deal with them afterwards. Now start."

Lily grinned as she faced off against Lyle and the knight. She liked the man; he had a peaceful nature that matched her own, and she almost didn't want to attack him, almost! "Harhhhh!" she bellowed, her smile matching Mal's as she sidestepped Lyle to take on the knight.

Meanwhile Drebin and Rezek were not nearly as exuberant when they faced off against Kaden. "DEEE-FENCE, Kade, no A-TACK-KING," Rezek teased, earning himself a menacing grin from the boy that neither initiate found comforting.

Kade, on the other hand, recalled all too well what had happened the last time he'd disobeyed in Eeth's class, and since he had also given his crèche master a promise that he would be mindful of his emotions, the boy was already taking deep breaths in an effort to control his urge to win.

Rezek could sense Kade's struggle, and as a result he held back, allowing Drebin to attack as he pretended to go through the motions. Kade frowned at the boy as he flicked Drebin's attack aside, "Come on, you can do better than that," he hissed quietly, meeting Rezek's gaze and darting forward to force a reaction from the Ishi Tib. Kade did not attack, but his advance was almost as intimidating and sent the boy stumbling backwards several meters.

Eeth had taken in the scene immediately and stepped up to the group.

"If you do not feel sufficiently challenged by your peers, I will be glad to help," he said calmly. He ignited his saber and lunged at Kade. When the boy dodged, he ordered Rezek to come at him from behind and Drebin to come to Rezek's aid. He was trying to make the attack intense enough to force Kade to actually focus on his defence, and defence only; whenever Kade moved into a counterattack or an aggressive-defensive move designed to drive his opponent back or knock them down, Eeth was there and drove Kade back, giving the two others brief, pointed instructions in the meanwhile. The problem with his approach was that he could not continue giving the boy this kind of one-on-one attention for more than a few minutes at most; after all, he had five other initiates in this class who needed his input. Kade needed a master fast, that much was obvious.

Meanwhile, Mal was enjoying himself. Lyle was a good partner, but he felt himself particularly drawn to Lily. His initial brief hope that this was the initiate Eeth had been talking about had faded quickly; the girl was nimble and deft with her saber, but entirely unaggressive. She was cheerful, though, and took her failings in stride. Mal warmed to her more and more with every minute that passed.

Rezek sensed Eeth's approach as he dusted himself off and flinched at what he felt. "Great move, Darth," he hissed at Kade, drawing the boy's attention to the approaching storm that was Eeth Koth. Drebin backed up as the man entered their sparring circle, hoping to all hopes that the encounter had gone unnoticed; however, if the look on Rezek's face was anything to go by they weren't going to be so lucky. Kade, for his part, remained calm and focused on the encounter. He wanted this; he had wanted this from the first lesson. Mindful of recent lessons on releasing his emotions into the Force, Kade tried to use the techniques K'Mi had taught him, but as usual it wasn't enough.

Eeth alone was far too much for Kade, and the fact that he was not given any chance to come up with an attack frustrated him. That said, as Rezek and Drebin joined in, the boy was forced to focus on his defence, and focus hard, lest he be pummelled.

"Good," Eeth said after a few minutes. "Now switch. Rezek, you block. Kaden, do NOT overdo it. And do not do it all alone either; I want to see you working with Drebin."

With this, he moved on to the next group where Thiska and Ruben were currently sparring against Bale who was holding his own quite well.

Kade gave a curt nod, and turned his weapon on Rezek who was looking at him with a quizzical expression. "Something has changed," he said, unsure of what that meant exactly, but there was something different about Kade's future, something that had been set in motion. Not that either boy was keen on giving the strange Ishi Tib a chance to elaborate as they both attacked, smiles on their faces. "Oh yeah, something changed, the fact that I can finally sit down again that's what's changed," Kade quipped, coming in hard with a sweeping strike that left his right open for Drebin.

Kade was working hard to keep his aggression in check, it was not easy, but thankfully, no one tried goading him into retaliating. Thanks to Eeth's demonstration, not to mention Kade's account of what went down afterwards, everyone was on their best behaviour.

Eeth kept monitoring Kaden through the Force, even when his back was turned. He was pleased to see that Kade was able to keep his aggression in check if given the proper motivation. He was even more pleased to see that the boy was making an honest effort at doing so. After a few minutes, he rearranged the groups so that Mal was working with Kade and Thiska now; and it did not escape his notice that Mal seemed to be a little disappointed to be parted from Lily. He used the opportunity to briefly put his hand on Kade's shoulder and softly say "Well done" before ushering him off to his new group.

The boy allowed himself a little smile at receiving Eeth's praise, although was quick to school his features again so as not to look like a baby getting a pat on the head for using the potty correctly.

In the next round, Eeth started going from group to group and giving strategic hints on how to move into a more favourable position when faced with multiple opponents. They practiced that for a while. Then he split up the class into two groups of four, whereupon he and Mal started teaching them how to slash their weapons in a wide swinging arc that would force anyone behind them to back off fast; a technique that none of them, including Kaden, had been taught so far. Both Kaden and Lily were in Mal's group. Eeth could not help but notice the radiant smile Mal tended to give the girl when she had done something right. He thought he recognised the signs. Oh well, he thought; all the better for Lily. We might be one initiate short in this class very soon.

The new move was like a red flag to a bull for Kade and he soaked up every detail as Eeth and Mal demonstrated.

Meanwhile Lily was having the best class she had ever had. Not only had she avoided garnering the councillors wrath, but she realised she really liked being around Mal; there was something about the way he felt in the Force.

"Well, that's a nice group of initiates you are teaching," Mal told Eeth when they made their way out of the gym a while later, trailing behind the chattering initiates. "I assume it's not Lily you have been talking about, though. I do feel a strong connection to her, but she somehow doesn't fit your description."

"No, it's not Lily I have been talking about," Eeth agreed with a slight smile. "But don't worry about that. You and she would be a good match."

"Yeah, she's a great kid," Mal said. "I think I'll ask her to meet me this afternoon. Sorry I couldn't help you about the other kid. It's probably Kaden, isn't it? He was by far the best of the bunch. He didn't strike me as all that unruly, though."

"Well, yes, he was making a big effort," Eeth replied. "After he received a thorough paddling the last time and spent half the lesson standing in a corner, he would have been motivated to do so. In any case, I do not think he is a bad child at all. He just needs someone to take him firmly in hand and guide him. That someone simply does not seem to be you."


	3. Chapter 3

Back in his quarters, Eeth went over his list again and decided to contact Jin-Dai Long, a human master who was widely acknowledged as a very skilled fighter. Jin-Dai had just finished training her second padawan, Baelen.

"Well," Jin-Dai said after Eeth had finished his request, then paused for a moment. "To be honest," she finally continued, "Baelen has just been knighted and I was looking forward to having some time to myself. I am not the most social person, and yet I find myself training padawan after padawan."

The edges of her mouth quirked upwards in a slight smile.

"Nonetheless, of course I will look at the initiate in question," she told Eeth. "I trust you know what you're doing, and if you say he or she needs a master, well, then that's the way it is. Ultimately, it will only work out if there's some connection in the Force between us, of course."

Thus, it was not Mal Shekkaf, but Master Jin-Dai Long who accompanied Eeth to Friday's class - a class which was one person short because Lily had been taken as a padawan by Mal Shekkaf yesterday.

"So, did anyone hear about Lily?" Drebin asked as the seven initiates arrived early and began going through stretches; by now it was clear to them all that they were one student down.

Rezek smiled, having unintentionally picked up on their connection during the end of last class, but the others all shrugged.

"Well, apparently Knight Shekkaf offered her an apprenticeship," Drebin announced, earning himself smiles from each initiate.

"That's great, I'm happy for her," Kade stated, doing his best to trample the jealousy he felt; Lily was only eleven! It just wasn't fair!

Rezek met the boy with a mixture of worry and sympathy, Kade was doing an admirable job of hiding it, but still planned to keep his distance today as he knew it would not take much to set him off.

Eeth started with a warm-up as usual, then recapped what they had done last week. All the initiates had practiced the move and he was satisfied with their performance. After that, he and Jin-Dai taught them how to use variations of that same move against single opponents and how to defend oneself against those. Finally, Eeth set them up in pairs to practice what they had learned. This time, he paired up Kaden with Jin-Dai right away. The boy was simply too good for his peers and had difficulties holding back. Eeth appreciated the effort he had made last time, but having him work with a Jedi master instead of another, possibly intimidated initiate would make things easier on everyone involved.

Kade had, so far, been on his best behaviour. He had received praise and coaching from his crèche master after the last class, and earning Eeth's approval had gone a long way towards helping maintain the effort next class.

From the first minute of the match, Jin-Dai suspected that this was the initiate Eeth had talked about. He was good, almost impossibly good. Her own apprentices had been more than decent fighters, but none of them had possessed the natural skill that Kaden had; she recognised herself in him. Sparring with him was fun. He did not seem to be the least bit afraid. On the contrary; he plunged into the fight with almost reckless abandon. That suited her just fine. She had to make a real effort not to forget herself and to focus on what she was trying to teach him, so much fun did she have. Of course, she also had the discipline and experience of a Jedi master, and she fully realised the dangers inherent in the kind of connection she felt with the boy; a connection that lay first and foremost in their enthusiasm for fighting.

Eeth recognised it, too. Oh, they would work well together, for a while; but it would be a dangerous relationship, at least for Kade.

After ten minutes, Eeth broke off the fight and chose different pairings; this time, Kade came up against Drebin.

"Easy, initiate," he told Kade quietly while he pointed him to a spot in the training room that he was to start from. Jin-Dai was now teamed up with Rezek.

Kade had to focus hard on what Eeth and Jin-Dai were demonstrating. Usually, learning a new move required little effort on his part, but today, his mind was consumed with his pending birthday; it felt like each day another peer was chosen from around him while he remained behind.

Thankfully for him, he had picked up enough during the demonstrations to pull off the variation so when he was paired with the unknown Jedi master, he was ready. Sparring against Jin-Dai was quite possibly the most fun Kade could remember having during a match; she was unbelievably good, her style was precise and powerful, and she did not seem to mind as Kade continued to up the ante in order to impress her, in fact she almost seemed to encourage him.

Kade was not ready to stop when Eeth called the exercise to an end. However, he remembered what had happened last time he had insisted a fight continue in Eeth's class, and consequently disengaged with only a minor pout. He bowed respectfully to the woman who had given him such a run for his money, praying to the Force that he would get another chance to spar with her.

The boy almost groaned at being paired with Drebin. However, at Eeth's encouragement, he took a few deep breaths. He had done his best to calm down but was still running on adrenaline from his fight with Jin-Dai and lit into the clawdite with similar ferocity, forcing the boy backwards at a rate that all but knocked him flat.

Eeth had kept a close eye on Kade; he had half expected some kind of trouble, and indeed, trouble did not take long to occur.

He quickly stepped in as Kade lunged another ferocious attack at Drebin and deflected the attack so powerfully that it knocked Kade clean on his ass.

"This is what you are doing, initiate," he informed Kade. "It does not meet my definition of 'easy', and you know it. This is your last warning."

Totally focused on the fight at hand, Kade did not sense Eeth's presence until he was on his ass. He was back on his feet in an instant, though, his saber at the ready and breathing hard. Eeth had put him on his ass so fast that the boy wasn't sure exactly what happened. The stern reprimand garnered an instant nod of compliance from the boy, and both hands came to rest at his sides, saber still ignited. He held Eeth's gaze until he could stand it no longer and dropped his eyes.

"C'mon, Kaden, get your shit together before you wind up standing for another four meals," Drebin said in an effort to make light of the situation, and raised his saber once again.

Eeth merely nodded at the two and disignited his saber. "Carry on," he said calmly and moved on towards Lyle and Thiska.

Drebin's comment garnered a smirk from the boy. He really had spent four meals standing after that first class with Eeth, and not solely from the paddling, as master K'Mi had taken after him to boot. It was a rule K'Mi had enforced specifically for Kaden and saber classes; if he was taken to task for being overly aggressive during any form of combat, she added to it the following evening, and add to it she had.

"In a minute," Kade replied while slowly opening his eyes, then assumed a ready stance.

As the pair battled, Kade managed to curb the urge to trample Drebin by replaying the previous fight in his mind; Jin-Dai was amazing, he thought and parried another blow from Drebin.

Eeth was pleased with Kaden; the boy really tried hard to pull himself together and it showed.

"Can I have one more go with Kaden?" Jin-Dai asked under her breath as he rearranged teams for the third time. "I don't think I'm a good match for him, to be honest; but we did have fun."

"Do you really think it would be fair towards him to raise his hopes?" Eeth replied, equally quietly.

Jin-Dai sighed. "No, it wouldn't," she admitted. "And I really can't take him on, much as I'd love to; it'd be outright dangerous. Well, I'll fight Drebin, then."

Kade was paired with Lyle in what was the last match of today's lesson.

Lyle knew Kade was having a hard time. He was the oldest student in K'Mi's crèche group and the prospects of him finding a master in six months didn't look good. With that in mind Lyle kept his comments to himself; as long as Kade was controlling himself, he would repay the favour.

Their battle, although still heavily one-sided in Kade's favour, concluded without incident, and as Eeth led them through a cool down routine Kade actually let out a breath of relief. He was hopeful, though, hopeful that Jin-Dai would approach him sometime soon and request a meeting. He liked the woman; she was an incredible fighter, although if he were honest with himself he did not feel a connection to her beyond sparring. Not wanting to address that feeling, he pushed it down into the pit of his stomach where his fear of remaining unchosen was carefully buried.

Jin-Dai threw the boy one last, regretful look as the children left the classroom.

"He's a remarkable child," she told Eeth quietly. "But he needs a master who will be better suited to curb his ambition. Having fun when sparring is not enough to sustain a master-padawan relationship."

"I have to say I agree," Eeth replied, equally quietly. "Sparring with you seemed to spur him on, instead of tone him down. Now, there is nothing wrong with giving him the opportunity to enjoy his skills like he did today every once in a while. Any child would be frustrated if they did not get that opportunity. But from a master, he needs more than that. Nevertheless, I thank you for having indulged me in this."

"You're welcome," Jin-Dai replied with a smile. "And I wish you good luck with your endeavour, for Kaden's sake. I've been thinking ... have you asked Drex Zaryth? I knew his third padawan, Taishin, and she started out as one of the most unruly children I've ever met. The man had a way with her... Someone like him might be good for Kade."

"I have asked him," Eeth said solemnly. "And I will again."

Meanwhile, Kaden made his way down the corridor with Drebin. He was the only initiate in Kade's crèche group, so the two boys headed for their next class together.

"Gundark got your tongue?" Drebin asked. It wasn't unusual for Kaden to be silent, but the slight smile on his face and lightness of step was rather out of character, especially so lately.

"Nah, just enjoyed the class, why, didn't you?" Kade shot back, happy to turn the questions back rather than answer then.

Drebin just rolled his eyes, and morphed his face into that of Kade's, only with a black puffy eye. "A self portrait of our next sparring match," he said playfully, earning himself a chuckle from his friend.

"Unlikely," said Kaden, grinning.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, added and followed our story so far. It's nice to hear that people like what we write.

To the Guest reviewer: This is a collaboration of works from two authors that was written as a POV roleplay. We appreciate you picking that up! We're working on melding the parts together to make it flow better, but we won't be able to remove the changes in POV altogether. However, some of the subsequent installations, which we will upload in due course, have been written as a story from the outset.

* * *

 **Chapter Four**

* * *

As the next few days passed, Kade gradually began losing his smile. By the time Eeth's next class came around and Jin-Dai had still not requested a meeting with him, the boy was sporting a glower. Sure, he had known deep down that there was no connection with the slender, graceful woman beyond the one that consisted of her being one hell of a sparring partner, but he wished that it could have been enough. The last spark of hope was that she would approach him in this lesson. However, when Eeth entered their training room with an elderly man instead of Jin-Dai, Kaden's heart sank, and he fought to control his frustration at being overlooked yet again

* * *

"I'm still not convinced that this is in the child's best interest," Drex had told Eeth on the com, two days earlier. "But if you are absolutely adamant that I am the best remaining option, so be it. I will have a look at him or her and see what the Force tells me."

"The way I have done it with the last two persons I tried is to take them to my class as a co-tutor," Eeth explained to Drex. "That way, the purpose of all this wasn't obvious and the risk of raising false hopes was lower, although I am not entirely sure that this worked out in Jin-Dai's case. In any case, it is less of a commitment than a one-on-one meeting."

"True," Drex agreed. "When's your next class, then?"

"On Monday at nine," Eeth replied.

"I'll be there," Drex promised.

* * *

This time, Eeth wanted to introduce the initiates to performing coordinated attacks. After the usual warm-up, he formed one group of three, which included the comparatively stronger padawans Kaden, Drebin and Thiska, and one group of four. The group of three was to go against himself first, the other against Drex. They were going to switch later.

"Now, the most important thing I want to see from you is an effort to work together," he told the group while they stretched. "Look what your partners are doing. Create open spaces for your partners. Draw your opponent away from them when they are under pressure, but withdraw as soon as one of your partners is in a better position. Master Zaryth and I will give you suggestions while we fight."

After attacking the warm-up with his usual gusto, Kaden tried to keep his attention on what Eeth was instructing them to do, but his mind kept wandering. What if he never got a chance? There was no way he would last at the AgriCorps he just wasn't cut out for that sort of work, and why, when he felt it was his destiny to become a Jedi, was the Force not working with him? It was with that thought that he glanced up; if he didn't start paying attention he'd have to wing it which wasn't something he liked to do during a saber class as he missed out on too many opportunities to get the upper hand. As Eeth explained, Kade shot the occasional curious glance at the golden-skinned man Eeth had enlisted. How anyone that old could still fight was beyond him; surely this would be too much for the guy? But he kept those thoughts to himself.

There was simply no hiding the grin that crept across his face when it was announced that he would be facing off against Eeth because, despite the fact that he had ended up on his ass last time, he liked the challenge and didn't have to hold back. He was the first to his feet when Eeth gave the order to begin, although his attention was once again wandering to the old man who was now facing off against four of his classmates; he was curious, although wasn't entirely sure why.

"Kade-den, anyone home?" Drebin teased, earning himself a shove from the boy as he bought his attention back to the moment, the others had their weapons at the ready and his face flushed with embarrassment as he pulled his lightsaber from his belt. He wasn't in the mood to take crap, to be scolded or to be told what to do or how to act. His eyes narrowed as the yellow blade buzzed to life in his hands; he wanted this fight, no, he needed this fight!

Eeth immediately felt that Kade was in that kind of mood again; the mood where he was bent on fighting, where he felt downright dangerous.

He dodged Kade's first attack and deflected Drebin's, then spun around to meet Thiska.

"Drebin, you need to get back up quicker," he said without looking behind.

Meanwhile, Drex was defending himself against the four initiates at his usual calm, unhurried pace, deftly and with the ease of someone who had had decades of practice. He was still in good physical shape and it showed. Not one for flashy manoeuvres, he nevertheless knew exactly what he was doing and was good at it. And while he was doing it, he still had the time to give advice to the four youngsters he was working with, none of whom struck him as the type of child Eeth had described. That whirlwind who was having a go at Eeth, though, was a different matter. He felt strong to Drex, but troubled. He was going to take a closer look at him later, when Eeth and he switched teams.

Ordinarily, having his attacks batted aside so casually would grate on Kaden's last nerve. Fortunately for him he was becoming well used to being outclassed by Eeth in such a manner, and his temper only flared mildly in comparison. He wanted to forget the others and focus on Eeth, however, knew from experience that to do anything other than what the man ordered was to buy himself trouble, so he was careful to add in a few side steps and backflips while blocking to allow the others a chance. When Drebin hit the floor, Kade took the opportunity to 'guard' by driving forward with a fierce attack designed to knock him flat. He was not holding back at all.

Eeth did not expect Kade to hold back, not when the boy was fighting against him, rather than another initiate. He did not go easy on Kade either, however; the boy's ferocious attacks were blocked quite forcefully. Eeth did not find fault with Kade's sparring style, as such; but there was still something underlying the initiate's fierceness that set him on edge.

After about fifteen minutes, he signalled for the initiates to cease their attack. He wanted to discuss a few strategic issues and then switch groups with Drex.

Kade had given it his all and fought the Jedi master as best he could. He was feeling invigorated, not in the same way as fighting with Jin-Dai, but still it had been exactly the sort of fight he was looking for today.

Alright, so this was going to be interesting, he thought, meeting the aged Jedi with an optimistically curious expression. Drex did not look particularly out of breath, and he appeared to have held his own, not that he'd had much of an opportunity to watch while he was busy attacking Eeth. When the Drex gave the command to begin, Kade was on him in a heartbeat, leaving the others little choice but to flank him. He came in hard and fast with a combination of attacks similar to those he had used against Eeth, but not exactly the same as he was quite certain Drex was not using Ataru.

Drex raised his eyebrows at the ferocity of Kade's attack.

"You might want to coordinate with your team mates, instead of forcing them to rush after you," he commented, neatly flipping out of harm's way and leaving Kade far out, compared to Drebin and Thiska. He resumed his ready stance and met the attacks of the other two deftly and without hurry.

"It's hardly my fault if they can't keep up," he shot back neutrally, although found he was smiling slightly as the man flipped from his attack. Kade was after him in a heartbeat. There was something about this old coot that he just couldn't put his finger on; the man never seemed to be looking at his opponent, at least not with his eyes, it was a little unsettling... Fortunately for him, the split second's hesitation this took to process had not cost him, and he was soon back in the fray. Of course he allowed the others to attack as he had been instructed, he just wasn't so good at backing off once he got started. He just kept finding different openings and couldn't let them pass! He channelled all his frustration at having been passed over, yet again, at his pending birthday and the disappointed look that was sure to be on K'Mi's face when he was sent to the Agricorps; his certainty that he was meant to be a Jedi proved once and for all to be no more than wishful thinking. This thought, coupled with a powerful side strike, made for a devastating attack, or it would have been had he not been against a master of considerable skill. He had a plan, though. He wasn't going to the AgriCorps, he was going to continue training without guidance, go out on his own and become a fallen padawan vigilante, cleaning up the scum in the seediest of places. Again, the pain at being forced to give up his dream of becoming a Jedi funnelled into his attacks.

Drex could not read Kade's thoughts, but he could sense some of the feelings that went into his attacks, and what he sensed wasn't pretty. After a short while, he raised his hand, calling for the group to stop.

"Initiate," he told Kade firmly, but not unkindly, "it might not be your fault that your teammates can't keep up, but if you're told to work with them, you need to adapt to their pace. More importantly, you're not following the flow of the Force, but your own emotions. Kneel and meditate for a while. Focus on the Force patterns of the fight through your meditation. When you feel that you have calmed down and are attuned to the Force, we will try this again."

Kade stopped immediately, albeit reluctantly, and stared at the man's strangely 'off' line of sight. Meditate? He wanted him to meditate! "But I don't need to meditate on the Force patterns of this fight, I know how to fight," he protested, raising his saber and wanting to pick up where they left off.

"Initiate, when I tell you to meditate, you will meditate," Drex said mildly. Although the words were the same Eeth might have used, the tone of voice was much softer. Nevertheless, there was something about his posture that said clearly he was not going to back off. He was merely standing there, waiting for Kade to comply.

Eeth, for his part, noticed what was going on, but refrained from butting in just yet; he was going to let Drex deal with this unless Kade went into open rebellion.

Open rebellion was certainly what Kaden wanted to launch into here. He shot the man a mutinous glower; he only had six months left to train and Drex was sending him off to meditate! He had to choke down his anger at the perceived injustice but did so. Sloppily. With a roll of his eyes the initiate waved the man off, he did not want to waste his time doing this and the way he stormed off towards the side of the room conveyed as much. He kicked at the wall in frustration, then slumped onto the floor; it wasn't fair. The longer he sat there the more agitated he became. He couldn't concentrate with the sounds of everyone else fighting in the background, he just wanted to get back into the action, not sit on the sidelines meditating like some out of control youngling.

Drex ignored the little outburst for the moment, and so did Eeth; both figured that as long as Kade did as he was told, it was not worth raising a fuss about it. He might calm down during meditation, and if not, they could still comment on it later.

It became apparent fairly soon, however, that there could be no question of Kade calming down. The longer his class fought, the more agitated Kade became. Drex called for a stop once again and Eeth immediately did the same with his own group.

"I'll take care of Kaden," Drex told Eeth quietly. "You keep the group busy."

Eeth nodded and immediately split the group up again, with five initiates going against himself and Lyle; he would work with rotating partners. This gave the children no chance to follow the talk Drex was having with Kade; Eeth made sure they had to stay focussed on the fight or would be knocked down.

Drex, for his part, felt responsible for Kaden in a way that was telling in itself, and he knew it. With an internal sigh he crossed over to where the boy was kneeling and fidgeting, and knelt opposite him.

"Initiate, I told you to meditate, but that's not what you're doing," he told him softly. "Are you unwilling or unable to follow my instructions?"

Despite sensing the elderly Jedi's approach, Kade tried to make like he neither noticed nor cared about being singled out. "Both," he replied stoically, not looking up to face the man.

"I see," Drex said calmly. "In that case, I think we should address the issue in private, someplace where you are not distracted by the fight. Come with me."

He rose from his kneeling position and beckoned for Kaden to follow.

"I don't want to," he said in exasperation. "I want to get back into my class. I only have this class three times a week." These were more words than Kade said to most, but for some reason he felt compelled to explain himself.

"You sound like a three-year-old throwing a tantrum, you know," Drex remarked. "You need to focus on what's important. The fight isn't important. Your wishes aren't important. Your connection with the Force is what's important, and if you're having a hard time finding it in this classroom, then you need to leave the classroom. You can go by yourself, right now. If you don't, I will make you. Either way, you're leaving this gym."

"I have no problem with my connection to the Force," Kaden shot back while getting to his feet and glowering at the man. The air around him went static, prickling the fine body hairs on his neck as it had often done lately when he thought about his future or became agitated. He was not trading Eeth's saber class for meditation 101. Period.

Eeth had noticed what was going on, and he signalled for the group to pause for a moment, striding over to where Drex and Kade were standing.

"I've got it, Eeth," Drex said quietly.

"No doubt," Eeth said evenly, glowering at Kade. "Nevertheless, I do not tolerate disobedience in my classes. I see you have things to discuss with Master Zaryth. Report to me after class when you are done, and I will explain to you what kind of behaviour I expect from my students. Once again, and possibly more thoroughly than the last time, since you seem to have forgotten."

"I will make sure he is present," Drex told Eeth. "Now excuse us for a moment."

With surprising strength for a man his age, he lifted Kade up and dumped him over his shoulder like a sack of flour, then made for the exit.

Kade was too busy glowering at Drex to notice Eeth's approach, so when the Zabrak started chewing him out over his behaviour he actually felt a little startled. Hell no, he thought, having no intention of attending that meeting, although before he had a chance to voice his protests, Kade found himself picked up and carried from the gym. The air was forced out of him in a gasp as his stomach made contact with a hard, broad shoulder. This was not happening, it just wasn't!

Both Lyle and Drebin had to cover their mouths to stifle laughter, while Rezek smiled as if something had just clicked into place for him. The rest of the class watched on wide-eyed and were simply glad that it wasn't them being hauled from class in such a fashion.

Meanwhile, Kade's face burned with shame as he was carried past his peers, although he remained limp and compliant; you did not physically resist a Jedi master, not even his temper would allow him to be that disrespectful, despite the verbal tirade he was capable of at times. When they exited the gym and had relative privacy, he started up with the protesting. "Let me down, now, I mean it!" he demanded, although the words came out in breathy gasps thanks to his uncomfortable position.

"You will stop giving me orders," Drex said in a rather matter-of-fact tone of voice. He said no more than that, refraining from giving any further explanations or pointing to the obvious fact that Kade had brought this upon himself. He merely continued carrying the boy - and he did not quite let on how heavy Kade was on him - to the nearest meditation garden which was thankfully – but predictably, at this time of the day– deserted.

Scowling, but unwilling to enter a debate, the boy simply lay limp and allowed himself to be carried, although truth be told he was surprised this old coot could actually pull it off as he was almost thirteen now and no light weight.

Having reached a relative secluded spot in the garden, Drex put Kaden down and pointed at the ground.

"Kneel," he told the boy.

When he had been placed on his feet, Kaden immediately turned his back, but there was something in the man's tone that had him turning to face him once again. "Kneel?" he queried, his expression neutral.

"Kneel," Drex repeated, still in that tone of voice that was entirely calm, but somehow indicated he would brook no objection. He knelt down himself on the soft grass, his finger still pointed at the spot opposite him.

It was on the tip of his tongue to say no, and then bolt for crèche, but he'd end up doing this every day for a month if K'Mi ever caught wind of such defiance. He huffed in resignation, dropped to his knees, his arms folded and a clear: 'well, what now' expression on his face.

"Now close your eyes, meditate, try to clear your thoughts and find some peace of mind," Drex said calmly. "You have been taught how to do this, I trust. If you need help, I am here. You may link with me if that makes things easier for you. We're staying here for as long as it takes for you to get a handle on all that aggression. It is only getting in your way."

"I'm not aggressive! And, I CAN'T BELIEVE you're making me miss out on one of the few saber lessons I have left, for this," the boy complained, his tone uncharacteristically childish as he swiped a fist at the ground impatiently.

Drex did not reply to that. He simply continued to wait silently, his impassive face pointed at the boy although his eyes could not see him.

Kaden leveled the man with his most intimidating glare, but it seemed to have no effect. He frowned and suddenly turned to check behind him as he noticed Drex was not looking at him, but past him. Just as he was about to risk a closer look Drex closed his eyes, and Kade sat back on his heels. This sucked! Being the stubborn boy that he was, he decided that if he was being forced into missing out on saber practice, then he was going to take his time and miss out on it all together, Eeth's requested meeting to boot.

He took his time obtaining an acceptable level of focus. That said, it was actually hard given he was so angry at being benched from Eeth's class, and it was a good half an hour before he managed to do as he was told. Strangely, he noticed he could sense this particular Jedi master clearer than anyone else he had meditated with or around before, and as he began releasing his emotions into the Force as K'Mi had taught him, he wondered what it would be like to actually link with the man. Feeling less like he was about to explode, Kade reached out with the Force and briefly touched the Jedi's subconscious with his own.

Drex was a patient man, and he was not in a hurry. He knew that it was only possible to maintain a tantrum for so long; it would subside eventually. When Kaden finally calmed down, it did not take him long to reach out to Drex, and Drex responded readily, opening his Force presence to Kaden and sending him a brief surge of approval through the Force. He felt drawn to the boy in a way he had only experienced a few times before; it was becoming quite obvious to him that Eeth's instincts had been right.

Having nothing to compare it to, the kid did his best not to express his surprise at how easy it had been to sense Drex through the Force. He smiled in spite of himself at sensing the brief surge of approval, and by the time he opened his eyes, he wasn't sure what to say, so, as was typical for him, he said nothing.

"This is what's important, initiate," Drex told the boy quietly. "You have told me that you want your sparring class, but I don't believe that's what you really want. What you really want is to become a Jedi. And in order to become a Jedi, you need to achieve harmony with the Force. All that ambition to win your fights is only preventing you from accomplishing that. I would like you to think about that. If you feel that you understand what I am saying, come and seek me out - later today, next week or next month, it doesn't matter. I'm master Drex Zaryth; your crèche master will be able to tell you where to find me. And now let's get back to the training room. The lesson should be about over now, and Master Eeth is doubtlessly waiting for you."

How Drex knew that he felt so strongly about becoming a Jedi, Kade did not know. However, he hid his shock well and simply nodded; he had been told similar things by his crèche master although it somehow felt more serious coming from this man.

He rose as Drex did, feeling far calmer, albeit far more confused. What the Force had just happened? His thoughts trailed off as he looked into sightless eyes. "Class is finished," he stated in an effort to remain nonchalant.

"I'm sure that Master Eeth will be waiting for us," Drex said mildly, leading Kade back to the gym.

"Doubtlessly," he huffed under his breath. Inwardly however, he didn't care if the supreme chancellor himself was waiting, there was no way he wanted to go back into that room, that said neither was he planning on being carried back which he was quite certain would happen if he tried getting out of it.

What he saw when entering was truly amazing. For a moment the boy forgot the potentially precarious position he was about to endure and just watched in awe. Eeth's kata was flawless, not to mention one he had never even seen before, let alone attempted.

Eeth was making use of the time he had to spend waiting for Kaden. He was running through an advanced kata so fast that he was practically a blur; and yet, his movements had nothing hectic, frantic or aggressive about them. They projected serenity.

"This is the state of mind you need to achieve," Drex told Kade. "When you have done so, prowess with a saber will come on its own. I'll leave you with Master Koth, and I will notify your crèche master of your delay. May the Force be with you, Initiate Kaden."

He gave the boy a brief smile and left.

"And with you, Master," Kaden replied, offering the man a slight bow as he turned to leave.

He stood there for a while longer just watching. It did not occur to him to make a break for the door as this would mean missing out on seeing Eeth finish his kata. That all changed however, as the last move was landed and he started striding towards him...


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Thanks for the reviewer who is fond of Eeth. He cannot take Kaden on as his padawan since he already has one who is nowhere near to being knighted. However, Eeth will return to Kaden's story several times. He will play a big role in the sequel to this story, "The Generation Gap". We have also written dozens of stories involving Eeth and his first two padawans which we will post in due course. We hope you stay with us until we do!

We also want to thank everyone for their reviews, follows, the IMs and encouragement. It's all appreciated.

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"Would you care to tell me what that was all about?" Eeth asked coolly, folding his arms across his chest and glaring down at the boy.

Damn, too far to run, he'd catch me for sure, the boy thought and, with a resigned sigh, crossed his arms and tried not to telegraph just how scared he was. "Not really," he replied honestly, making sure to keep eye contact.

"Apparently, it is safer to give you orders than to ask you questions," Eeth said cuttingly. "Tell me what possessed you to disobey Master Zaryth."

"I didn't want to miss out on the class to go sit in a garden and meditate, I can do that all day if I choose to." The boy looked down at his boots. "I don't have many opportunities left to train, I'll be thirteen in six months," he admitted honestly. And that was something for Kaden. He had always kept his feelings carefully guarded, never wore his heart on his sleeve and did not generally talk much at all.

"True, you could do it all day if you chose to," Eeth replied evenly. "I somehow doubt that you choose to do so very often, though. And if a Jedi master tells you that this is what you need to do, you do not get to disagree. You are afraid of not being chosen as a padawan, and you are letting those fears rule you. Which is driving you to display behaviour that will make it even harder for you to be chosen as a padawan. I cannot and will not tolerate such behaviour in my class. The last time we had that discussion, I told you that any further punishment for disobedience during my lessons would be given on the bare. So, bare your bottom and bend over."

Kade stood tall, willing himself not to look away while Eeth spoke. He was right…. Of course he was afraid of not being chosen; how the Force everyone seemed to know this about him, however, remained a mystery! Was he that transparent? He swallowed the lump in his throat that had threatened to choke him at hearing Eeth nail down his emotions so accurately and covered it with false bravado. Fine, if nothing else, he was going to take his smacking like a man. Still, he glanced to Eeth's empty hands briefly, relieved to see he held no paddle. That thing had been bad enough on a fully clothed backside, let alone on his bare ass. There was a lot he wanted to say, really there was, but he rarely showed his emotions, especially those he felt were particularly childish. With a practiced hand he flicked open his saber belt and opened the clasp on his training pants, pulling them and his shorts to his knees in one swift movement. His tunic was plenty long enough to grant him modesty. He hesitated, remembering that Eeth had not messed around last time; it had hurt, a lot. He swallowed again, blew out a breath and bent over, placing both palms on his boots as he had been instructed to do last time. "How many?" he asked, hoping to the Force that he was going to get through this with his dignity intact; not that his dignity was faring so well now, being bare-assed in the middle of a training room and about to have his bare backside walloped into next week.

Eeth pulled the paddle out of his belt; he hardly ever used anything else to punish wayward students in his classes.

"That is an irrelevant question," he replied crisply. "Instead of trying to tough it out, you'd better think about what brought you into this position and how you can avoid landing there again."

He raised the paddle and brought it down onto Kade's bottom smartly; not quite as hard as the last time, when the boy had had his pants up, but hard enough to sting. He waited for about five seconds, then let a second swat follow.

There was nothing at all irrelevant about that question as far as Kade was concerned. In fact, it was critical; if he didn't know how many, he would never know how many more he had to withstand before it was done with. Nevertheless, Kade did not say a word at the man's statements, and he sure as hell was going to do his best to tough it out! That determination lasted until he reached the sixth swat, and Eeth kept going. Fuck. Apparently his apprentice was a girl, how the Force she, "Ahh!" was able to withstand, "AHH!" this he did not, "OUCH!" know! Still, he kept his eyes shut tightly and had a death grip on his boots; he wasn't going to beg off, he wasn't! "OWWw-Fffar-Out!" He buckled at the knees slightly, and had broken out in a sweat, but managed to keep it together until the twelfth which practically lifted him off his feet. He really couldn't handle any more, and he was eternally grateful when Eeth helped him to stand. He bounced around on the spot. That had hurt like nothing else, worse than his crèche master's stick, worse than the time he'd pissed off that Nautolan teaching water manipulation, and worse than his first encounter with Eeth, far, far worse. Quickly swiping a sleeve across his eyes, he clumsily rearranged his clothing and stood straight, his hands clutching and unclutching at fistfuls of his pant leg as he willed them to remain at his sides.

Eeth had always subscribed to the 'tough it out' approach to discipline himself, and he was not about to reprimand Kaden for it. The only person who had consistently managed to make him show some of the emotions under the tough surface had been his master; and he believed Drex would be able to do the same for Kaden. That the two would be a good match, he had no doubt after what little he had seen today; and he thought Drex knew it as well.

"There will be no more disobedience in my class, initiate," he told Kade. Well, he highly doubted that Kade would be an initiate for much longer, but that would be up to Drex and the boy to decide. For now, he limited himself to pronouncing this statement sufficiently sternly to make the extent of his displeasure abundantly clear.

"I'm sorry," Kade managed to get past the lump in his throat which now felt more like a damned boulder, although his voice still sounded small and strained, his fists were white and his eyes were glassy despite his determination to appear stoic. He didn't want Eeth to know how much the paddling had hurt him, and Force, did it hurt! "Can I go now?" He asked politely, although his words still carried a touch of urgency; if he did not make the privacy of his room soon he was going to lose the battle.

It was totally obvious to Eeth how hard the boy was fighting against his tears, and he could sympathise.

"You may," he said calmly, "but before the next lesson, you are going to apologise to Master Zaryth, in person. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." Kade inclined his head in compliance, then took off for the door, somewhat stiffly…. But hell, a pained expression and stiff gait were far preferable to the alternative; he did not want to cry in front of anyone, especially the man who had brought him unstuck!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: 'K' Raven is Eeth's second padawan. His first was Lakhri and there are individual stories involving him too, we'll post those in sequence.

Again, thanks everyone for your comments and reviews, it's appreciated!

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The next couple of days went by without incident. Kade performed well at all his classes and duties, although at night his thoughts returned to the elderly Jedi who had pulled him from saber practice that day. 'To become a Jedi you must first achieve harmony with the Force, and simply wanting to win every fight will only prevent you from achieving this,' he had said, and deep down, Kade knew he was right.

It was Wednesday afternoon, the third day and almost down to the last hour when Kade finally made his way to Master Zaryth's quarters to make his apology. He wasn't afraid of finding more trouble, but at the same time he was nervous.

Eeth had informed Drex that he had ordered Kaden to apologise before the next lesson, so Drex knew - or at least hoped - that the boy would come sometime before Wednesday afternoon. Kaden would really have to be rather dumb to disobey Eeth any further, and he had not struck Drex as particularly stupid. Troubled, yes, but not stupid. In any case, Drex was not in a hurry. If their pairing was Force-willed, which he believed, then it was eventually going to happen. It was going to happen if and when both of them were ready. Drex was, but whether Kaden was, he did not know.

Kaden spoke into the door comm, a bit surprised to find the man was home and not already at Eeth's class. It wasn't that he didn't want to apologise, and it certainly wasn't because he didn't want to see Drex again, it was more because he wanted time to bolster his courage for the possibility of disappointment.

Drex was not going to assist Eeth this time; the one time he had done so had fulfilled its purpose. He had thus started the day slowly. After a lengthy meditation, he had had a spartan breakfast and just cleared away the dishes when his visitor arrived. Opening the door, he found Kaden standing in front of it.

"Initiate Kaden," he said, bowing politely. "Do come in."

Kaden nodded and entered when asked to. He knew he was supposed to apologise for disobeying, but apologies were not his top priority right now, nor had they been since parting with the older Jedi three days ago.

He followed the Hrakian master into his tidy common room, noting that everything in here had a place and was in it. He offered a curt bow, took a deep breath and started talking. Force, he was no good at talking. "I meditated on what you said and I understand…. I always have, but, it's hard," he said, faltering slightly, and looked down, forcing his hands to still by his sides. "I'm meant to be a Jedi, I feel it, yet I'm starting to believe that my feelings are wrong," he admitted to the floor. He stopped short of adding, 'because what master in his right mind would take on a padawan with my issues?' if only because saying as much might mean he would have to start focusing on them.

Apologies were not Drex's top priority either, although he was going to make sure that one was offered before their meeting was over; after all, orders were orders. Not right now, however. He reached out a hand and slowly, a little searchingly found Kaden's cheek, caressing it briefly.

"I think not," he said softly. "You are meant to be a Jedi, but you will need a lot of guidance to reach that goal. Above all, you will need the determination to conquer your ambitions, your aggression and your fears. You will have to free yourself from the desire to prove yourself. That will be a liberating experience, but, like you said, it is hard. Very hard. You have to really want it. Do you?"

"Yes," he answered honestly, although he was beginning to think that it was too late for him. Not that this was something he would say aloud as he had been told many times that such things were not up to him; the Force would decide. Drex's touch had felt soothing, not that he was ready to admit he still wanted comfort in such juvenile ways, much to K'Mi's annoyance; he was thirteen and far too old, he had told himself. But did he want it, did he want to listen to Drex? Yeah, he did. "Why did you come to help Master Koth?" the boy asked, beginning to piece things together himself but wanting confirmation.

Drex paused for a moment, considering how to reply to that question. He settled for honesty. Kade struck him as a person who would appreciate honesty and could deal with it.

"Because Master Koth thought that you are in dire need of a master to guide you," he said. "And he thought that I might be that person. This is not something he or I would ever impose on you, though. If it does not feel right to you, be honest with yourself and me. It is your choice. And it is not a choice you need to make right now either. If you have doubts, take your time. If you would like to get to know me better through joint meditations or lessons, tell me and I will arrange for it."

Generally, Kade was quite difficult to surprise although if the last few weeks were anything to go by that was fast changing. He stared at the man for the longest time, fighting the urge to fidget in light of what he had just heard. "So, Knight Shekkaf? and," he hesitated for a moment, "Master Jin-Dai…. The same?" he questioned; the boy was a realist after all, and did not imagine for a second that Eeth would have gone to such lengths for an almost thirteen-year-old initiate who was about to flunk out of the Order.

"To be honest, I was his first choice, but I thought myself too old," Drex replied with a small smile. "So he brought in others. After his first two attempts had not worked out, he asked me again; in fact, I understand that Master Jin-Dai specifically recommended me, too."

Growing more solemn, he put a hand on Kade's shoulder and guided him to one of the armchairs, sitting down opposite him.

"The Order values its children highly," he told Kade. "You are worth the effort any time. And if you don't think the two of us will be a good match, don't believe for a moment that Master Koth will stop searching."

Again Kade was surprised, both by hearing the level of Eeth's commitment, and the recommendation Jin-Dai had given. "When we meditated, I felt your presence clearer than any I have ever sensed."

The boy shifted slightly in his seat.

"Would you let me show you?" he asked, because this was something the boy couldn't explain with words.

Drex's smile broadened.

"Sure," he agreed. He did not really need showing; he had felt the same, and he knew much more clearly than Kaden what it meant. Still, it was important for the boy to go this road at his own pace.

Drex held out his hand towards Kaden.

"Take my hand and link with me," he said gently. Skin contact often made it easier for children to establish a connection with specific persons.

Nodding, Kade took Drex's hand, his olive complexion contrasting with the Hrakian's golden hue. He closed his eyes and focused on the place in the Force that was peaceful to him, then reached out to brush the older man's conscience. It felt as if two pieces of a puzzle were coming together, it just fit. Kade's smile grew a little as he hadn't been sure if what he'd felt the first time was real or just something his mind made up out of desperation. It would appear it was not.

Drex did nothing much, he just allowed it to happen - at least up to the point where they were actually about to form a training bond. He had to actively prevent this from happening, so naturally did it come. He felt it would be unfair towards Kaden to let this go too far, though; it would amount to making the boy his padawan without any active decision on his part, and that was hardly a good start to years of teamwork.

He ended the meditation after a while and gently withdrew his hand.

"What do you think?" he asked quietly.

"I think that I would like to meditate with you more often," he replied, his eyes opening to once again take in the room around them. That had been like nothing he had experienced before, their connection had been absolute and, well, they had connected through the Force in a way Kade had never experienced before. "What do you think?" he questioned, curious to know what Drex had to say.

"I think the Force means for us to meditate together a lot more often," Drex replied, smiling. "As master and padawan. What do you think about that?"

"That you're right," he looked from Drex to his hands in an effort at deflecting the smile on his face.

Drex's smile broadened for a moment, but he quickly became more solemn.

"It's a big commitment to make," he told Kade. "And I don't want you to make such a commitment rashly and to regret it later. I might not be the type of master you have always been dreaming of. If you choose to train with me, little time will be devoted to honing your considerable sparring skills; I will pay much closer attention to advancing your connection to the Force, your knowledge and your wisdom. Sparring will be more of a reward for achievements in those areas, not an end in itself. I think this type of training is what you need, at least if your goal is to become a Jedi Knight, but it might not be what you want, and it will definitely not always be fun. I am no Eeth Koth in terms of strictness, but neither am I prepared to compromise on the standards I hold my padawans to. I will be happy to accept you as my padawan learner, but I want you to be fully aware of what that would involve before you make that commitment. If you like, I could call your crèche master and ask her to excuse you from your lessons and other obligations for today, so we can spend the day together. I will return you to the crèche tonight, and you take the night, or as long as you need, to make up your mind. Would that be alright?"

The boy looked at his hands, then back up again. "Yes. I'm meant to be a Jedi, I've always felt it was right just as you feel right. If you say I need to put my connection with the Force, knowledge and wisdom above lightsaber training to achieve my goal, then I'll do that."

Kade wasn't sure what to make of all that Drex had said, it was a lot to take in. Drex felt right to him in the Force but he didn't understand why the man would not want to continue honing his lightsaber skills. This was his strongest point, after all, so why wouldn't he want to continue improving on that? On the up side hearing that he wasn't strict made Kade smile a little; Eeth was strict, his crèche master was strict, so it seemed only fair to him that if he was expected to trade in his saber for a meditation mat and some data pads, he caught a break somewhere.

Given that Drex was making sure he had the full picture, Kade extended him the same courtesy. "I am not always good," he confessed solemnly. "Sometimes I lose my temper, sometimes I don't tidy my room until the last minute and sometimes I lie about having completed chores so I have more time to do the things I want. Sometimes I feel anger and strong emotions not suitable for a Jedi, and I don't always do as I'm told," he blurted, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders; these were his failings and if Drex still wanted him as a padawan after hearing them, then there was no doubt in the boy's mind he was meant to be his master.

Drex smiled at him.

"I also see that you are a very honest person," he said. "And that is a good quality. I was not expecting you to be without failings; after all, I saw some of them firsthand the day before yesterday. Now, make no mistake. I might not be as intimidating as Master Koth or Master Windu, but I will still consistently call you to task for any act of disobedience or violation of the rules, whether they be Temple rules or the rules I set for you. How else will you learn? Incidentally, advancing your wisdom is not necessarily achieved by data pads and homework, though those will be part of your padawanhood, too, of course. Getting to know life outside the Temple, the good and the bad, and reflecting your experiences will be an important part of your education. And there will come a time when you will become the accomplished fighter you're able to be. After you have learned to control your emotions to some degree, not before. And now, I think I should excuse you from Master Koth's lesson before the man thinks you're skipping it."

"As if I would skip it," he snorted, the noise uncharacteristic of him. Then again after the paddling he'd received last time, maybe it wasn't such a far fetched idea. He thought about all that Drex had said, and he had said a lot of things that hit home. Kade wasn't the sort of boy to exploit a lenient master, or was he? He didn't know! He hoped that he wasn't that sort of person but if history was anything to go by he tended to do things on the fly, without much thought to the outcome. Then there was hearing that he would have to master his emotions before becoming an accomplished fighter, that was worrisome. What if he couldn't? Would he remain at the same skill level with his weapon until he did?

Drex rose and went to the comm unit. The ease of his movements did not betray the fact that he was blind; he had been living in this apartment for a long time and knew every inch of it. Drex called both Eeth and Kade's crèche master and informed them that the initiate was spending the day with him. None of them would ask questions; doubtlessly, they knew what was going on.

"What rules do you intend to set for me?" he asked when Drex had returned to his chair. The man didn't strike him as the strict type, but then again the concept could mean something different to every master.

"Most of the rules will be the same you are accustomed to from the crèche," Drex said. "Obedience, honesty, respectful behaviour; that kind of thing. I will expect you to apply yourself to all tasks that you are set, whether you find them easy and enjoyable or dull and hard. I might set up specific rules when I get to know you better. I will try to be clear about my expectations, and I will never punish you for transgressing rules that you did not know were in place. You strike me as a person who values fairness, and so do I."

Kaden nodded. This was nothing he had not heard before although he did wonder about what specific rules might come into play once he got to know him. Instead of pursuing that line of question, he began pondering the rest of their day. "What happens if we get to the end of today and you decide that you still want me as your padawan? How does that work?" he asked glancing around the small apartment. Did Drex even have another bed in here?

Drex had no doubt that Kade was going to end up as his padawan. However, he thought that their relationship was going to be off to a better start if it felt like a conscious and deliberate decision on both their parts, and such a decision could not be made on the spur of the moment, however much the will of the Force was clear.

"We're going to talk about that when our decision is made," Drex said kindly. "Tomorrow morning. Important decisions should be slept on, and this is possibly the most important decision you are ever going to make in your life."

He didn't think he needed to sleep on it but neither was he going to argue, especially after the other day. This reminded him of Eeth's instructions and he took a moment to bolster some courage. "I apologise for disobeying you. It's not my place to question you," the boy said quietly. He didn't want there to be anything bad hanging between them, especially not today.

"Thank you, Kaden," Drex said softly. "Apology accepted."

With the apology out of the way Kade felt lighter still, he wanted Drex's approval and receiving it was like a reward in itself.

Drex rose from his chair.

"Come on, let me show you a place that is special to me," he said.


	7. Chapter 7

Drex led Kade through a maze of corridors towards a turbolift and activated it by voice control. It took them up towards an observation lounge near the top of one of the spires. This place was off-limits to initiates, so unless he had been totally out of bounds, Kade would not know the place. It was empty at this time of the day since most Jedi were busy with work or study. Drex led Kade up to the huge glass pane and sat down cross-legged in front of it. It offered a superb view of Coruscant and the structured chaos that was its traffic.

"You might wonder what business I have sitting here, given that I cannot see what is going on out there," Drex told Kaden. "I cannot see it, but I can sense it clearly up here, with nothing around me to distract me from it. It is like an enormous web of life, of individual beings all interconnected through the Force. And I am part of it. We all are. It is important to remind oneself of that every once in a while."

Kade had to admit that when they reached the observation lounge, he had indeed been wondering what the blind Hrakian could gain from coming up here. The answer did not surprise him; in fact, he was kicking himself for not catching on sooner. "Of course," he agreed simply, and closed his eyes trying to imagine how the world looked from Drex's perspective.

"How did you go blind, was it an accident?" he wanted to know.

"No, I was born blind," Drex replied. "Which means I have unconsciously started drawing on the Force very early in life. It has mostly replaced my missing eyesight. In some ways, I am slower than others, but not in the ways that matter, I think."

With his eyes still closed Kade could sense the beings around him clearly enough, although he'd still be running into stuff if he had to try getting back to Drex's quarters. In fact, he doubted he'd actually find said quarters. "Isn't there anything they can do to restore your sight?" he asked, then after a moment added: "And would you want to have it done if they could?"

"Well, they could have given me cybernetic eyes when I was younger," Drex replied. "But that would have meant messing with my brain and would have rendered me useless for the long time it would have taken me to adapt. I've never felt attracted to that option. By now, I'm too old anyway; my brain wouldn't adapt. Besides, I don't feel as if I'm missing anything. This might be very different if I had not been born with Force awareness, but as it is, I'm getting along just fine. Being a Jedi, I don't even have to make fashion decisions."

He said that quite solemnly, but there was a twinkle in his eyes.

"Don't worry, as a Jedi we get to choose between several shades of brown and cream, you aren't missing anything," Kaden quipped, opening his eyes. He looked out over the busy Coruscant horizon. "You know, the best time to watch Coruscant is at night; the traffic looks like long shiny ribbons twisting and turning through the night, but it has order to it, it's not random. I don't know how to explain that," the boy admitted. He did not feel sorry for Drex – hell, the man was more than capable from what he had seen – but he did want to share his interpretation of things if he could.

"If I hadn't come along today, what had you planned to do? I mean, apart from helping Eeth kick some initiates around the sparring room? Do you teach?" he asked.

"I teach some, yes," Drex replied. "I do research. I am still active in the field service, too. These days, I am mostly sent to conduct negotiations, but I have done lots of other things as well - rescue missions, undercover investigations, anything a Jedi gets to do. Depending on how well I keep up – or don't keep up – physically, other masters might help in certain aspects of your training or take you along on missions later. You should not have to miss out on anything just for having an old man as a master."

His life sounded incredibly interesting to the Temple-raised initiate. That other masters might be called in to help was not a concept he had considered. He said nothing about that, though, choosing instead to ask about the things Drex did now. "What subjects do you teach?"

"All kinds of things, from kata to philosophy," Drex replied.

Kade thought about the man's comments a bit more. "I don't really care about missions that much, although…. I do want to keep up my saber skills," he hedged. Kade wasn't entirely sure what Drex had meant when he said his sparring skills would not be the focus, nor did he like the idea of spending lots of time on analysing his emotions, but he also knew that he wouldn't have a choice and if he wanted to become a knight, this was the way it was going to be.

Drex considered the thinly-disguised question for a moment.

"You will most likely be able to keep up your saber skills, although making you a perfect swordsman will not be my main aim," he finally said. "Sparring will be part of your training, but with caution and constraint. You channel your aggressions and frustration into your saber, and that is something you will need to learn to control before I can allow you to focus on your saber skills to any meaningful extent. The more progress you make with controlling your emotions, the more time you will be granted to work with your lightsaber. There will be no unsupervised sparring whatsoever for now."

What Drex did not say, for now, was that he was totally prepared to ban Kade from sparring entirely for a while if he felt that the boy's desire to prove himself with a saber was preventing him from making progress in other, more important areas. That was doubtlessly going to be an effective punishment, but certainly not one that Kade would relish.

It was then that the boy had an idea.

"Hey, since I missed out on my class this morning, do you think we could go to a gym?" he asked, his hand unconsciously brushing his training saber.

"Of course," said Drex. "We can have a workout if you like. But kata first. It will help you find your focus on the Force."

"Sure," Kade replied good-naturedly. He didn't exactly like kata per se, but he was usually well able to keep it up long enough to satisfy most of his teachers. "Be forewarned…. My kata doesn't look anything like Eeth's," he cautioned, unnecessarily, then got to his feet.

The prospect of getting some time to spar after missing his lesson had Kade on a high, but he managed to keep himself from running ahead and kept a sedate pace for the most part. He wondered what the next week of his life was going to be like should Drex accept him as his apprentice. He'd heard from many of his peers who had been chosen before him that the first few months were by far the worst; apparently adapting from crèche to padawanhood was a big step. This thought led to another; what sort of teacher his new master would turn out to be? He wasn't overly strict, he'd said so himself, but he had said a lot and he was taking his time to digest it all.

When they entered the gym some time later he had some questions stored up: "You mentioned that you wouldn't punish me for something I didn't know about, so I'm assuming that you are planning to punish me for those that I do." He scratched at the back of his head. "How?" he hedged, hoping to all hopes that the man would say meditating, extra duties or corner time, anything that did not involve touching his toes beforehand. As it was, he suspected his ass would never be the same after his last encounter with Eeth, not to mention his crèche master who had given him six hard whacks with that horrible stick of hers the next evening. It had hurt, but at least he'd kept his undershorts on.

Drex smiled. What apprentice would not come up with that question at some point?

"It depends," he replied. "I might give you additional chores, I might assign meditations, I might revoke some privileges – including sparring lessons – or I might spank you or use some other form of physical discipline."

Kade nodded as Drex rattled off the list of punishments: extra chores were fine; meditations he'd deal with; having privileges revoked, he would hate but deal with. However, just when the boy thought he was home and hosed, Drex dashed his hopes. He sighed. He knew it had been too good to be true; he had yet to come across a Jedi master who did not believe in the effectiveness of corporal punishment.

Drex left Kaden little time to ponder this. He pointed towards the middle of the room.

"Show me the most advanced kata you've learned so far," he told the boy.

As Kaden walked towards the middle of the room, a thought occurred to him and he paused briefly. "Are you sure it's safe to spank me if you can't see what you're smacking? And, what did you mean by 'other' forms of physical discipline?"

Drex had to grin at that.

"Don't worry, I have dealt out quite a number of spankings in my life and so far, I haven't missed the target once," he replied. "However, I mostly refrain from using implements that have to be wielded from a distance, like canes, unless the circumstances are exceptional. I do, however, use implements other than my hand when your behaviour warrants it - or, possibly, when my physical strength is not up to the task any longer, which is not the case as yet, but might happen in the coming years. That was what I meant by other forms of physical discipline. I own quite a formidable hairbrush, for example. But I don't exactly use it every other day to punish wayward padawans; mostly, I just use it to brush my hair. I've had three apprentices so far, you know; I am speaking from experience. Now go ahead and show me your kata."

Kade wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he didn't. Instead, he drew his saber and ignited the blade.

The boy executed each movement of the tenth with precision and force. In fact, each move was curt, powerful and resulted in a kata that looked rather clipped, stiff and droid-like. For a twelve-year-old the initiate neither excelled nor failed when it came to kata. That said, his approach had prevented him from progressing further.

"Tell me," Drex said mildly when Kade had finished, "do you connect with the Force at all when you perform your katas?"

"Yes," he replied, allowing his saber to rest at his side. He met the man with a quizzical expression that clearly asked: why?

"Well, it doesn't show," Drex told him bluntly. "It feels as if you think with your head, instead of following the flow of the Force. In what way do you draw on the Force when you perform katas?"

Kade frowned, unsure how to answer that. "I don't know, I just focus on the Force and execute the move that comes next," he clarified. "Can we spar now?" It wasn't that he didn't want to give a more precise answer, it was more that he didn't know what it was. Not really. He'd never thought about it before.

"No, we can continue to work on your kata until I tell you we are done," Drex replied serenely. "Obviously, you don't follow the flow of the Force, or your kata would feel different. Close your eyes, enter a meditative trance and then perform it with your eyes closed. Or if a less advanced kata will work better for you, do that one. I don't mind which one you do."

Being blind, Drex had no personal experience with this, but he had long ago learned that many sighted beings had a far easier time focussing on the Force when they weren't distracted by their eyesight.

"But…" Kade started to protest but then thought better of it. "Alright," the boy sighed and did as instructed. His movements did flow together a little better now that he was being reminded to focus on the Force. However, each movement was executed as if he were blocking real strikes; powerful and precise, giving his kata an almost sharp appearance. He finished with a flip, adding in a second just for fun. He got bored with kata pretty quickly.

"You're performing the kata as if you were sparring," Drex commented. "But that's not the point of kata at all. Do it once again without your saber, just the moves."

"Alrighttt," Kade groaned, but deactivated his saber and clipped it to his belt. Despite feeling a little silly performing moves sans lightsaber, Kade did as he was told and went through the kata again. This time, however, he made a conscious effort to slow down lest the man have him doing this for their entire session.

"A little better," Drex said. Pulling his saber, he took a position next to Kade. "Link with me, close your eyes and feel how I'm doing the kata," he told the boy. "After that, you do it again, together with me."

Again, Kade did as he was told, if grudgingly. He was getting tired of doing kata. Linking with Drex was something he enjoyed, though, and he did so without hesitation. His Force presence was calming. Kade took a deep breath and found himself falling into step easily. This time the kata was not as rigid; it felt more like a dance than a fight.

"That was well done," Drex said, smiling at Kade. "Let's do it again a couple more times. No, you needn't roll your eyes or whatever you feel like doing. We will only proceed to sparring if you have made a real effort with the things you need to make progress with – like kata. And you are making progress. Come on."

The boy smiled at the praise, then, despite Drex's words, rolled his eyes. That was the extent of his protests, though.

After three more rounds, Drex took pity on Kaden and said: "Alright. We can do some freestyle sparring. But try to curb your emotions, or you will end up meditating instead, like the day before yesterday."

He took a ready stance and nodded for Kade to begin.

"Finally!" the boy exclaimed happily. He didn't think he could possibly stand another minute of kata. He needed to blow off some steam and knew from experience that Drex was more than up to par. Grinning, he waited for the nod to proceed, took a deep breath and attacked with his usual ferocity.

"Stop," Drex said firmly, dodging the attack effortlessly and rising his hand, signalling for Kade to hold. "What happened to following the flow of the Force? Fighting like this is all good and well, but as soon as you are up against an opponent who is in tune with the Force, you won't stand a chance. Have you ever tried working with a blindfold?"

Having been conditioned to respond to commands like 'stop' and 'drop' immediately, Kade pulled his attack and met the man with an incredulous expression. "But, I AM following the flow of the Force, I'm just following it with enthusiasm. Besides, it works plenty good enough against my classmates and they are 'in tune' with the Force." Kade scuffed at the floor with his boot. "I've used a blindfold with droids, but never during sparring."

"There is no such thing as following the flow of the Force with enthusiasm," Drex said mildly. "If you truly follow it, there is simply no need for enthusiasm. Your emotions become irrelevant. And I don't doubt your style of sparring works against your classmates, but if you're aiming at developing your skills to a degree where they will help you against serious, grown-up, fully-trained opponents, you should better listen to advice."

He walked to the wall of the gym which contained a hidden closet with training gear and retrieved a blindfold.

"Try it," he told Kaden.

"Alright," the boy complied, not at all liking said advice; there was just something about losing himself in a fight that was satisfying.

He took the blindfold and tossed it in the air once before flicking out the wrinkles. "I haven't done this before so just don't fry me, your saber looks a bit better than mine," he said through a grin, then folded the cloth and placed it over his eyes, knotting it roughly at the back. He didn't like the feel of having one of his major senses cut off, and instinctively reached out with the Force in an effort to compensate and sense his surroundings.

"Exactly," Drex said approvingly at what he sensed from Kade. "Don't worry about me. I practice Soresu; my style of fighting is defensive. And I will adapt to your pace, of course. Come on, give it a try."

Without his vision, Kade had no choice but to rely on the Force to guide him, and as a result his attacks were far less intense, but also far less satisfying. After five or so minutes of careful attacks, he stopped and lowered his saber. "Can I take it off now?" he asked. Kade couldn't believe the man had found a way to suck the fun out of sparring, but he had.

"Kaden, this is exactly what you need to do in order to make some progress," Drex said gently. "And you did well. Your body knows what to do, and the Force guided you through the actual moves. You will get to do some freestyle sparring without a blindfold later, but only if you pull yourself together and do what you are told, for as long as I deem it right. You have barely worked with the blindfold for five minutes. The more you get used to it, the more natural it will feel to draw on the Force, and that is what you need to achieve. Even if it is hard work. Now go on."

Receiving praise from the man felt good to Kade, but he couldn't hide the fact that this was boring to him and he tugged one side of the blindfold down. "I am together," he defended himself, feeling a little indignant, "but we've been doing boring stuff for forty-five minutes now."

"Yes, and we will continue to do boring stuff until I tell you to stop," Drex replied, entirely unfazed. "Get back to work. The more you complain, the longer you will be doing boring stuff."

Kade huffed, yanked up his blindfold and took up a ready stance once again. "Well, just for the record I think this sucks," he grumbled, and started attacking once again. It was clear that he was not enjoying this, and it showed in his lack of enthusiasm; it was like eating ice-cream without sprinkles!

Drex was not looking for enthusiasm, but he was expecting an effort. He also knew that Kade could have found this far more enjoyable than he currently did if he wasn't wasting so much energy on feeling hard done-by.

"Stop," he told Kade once again, and when the boy had complied, he said calmly, but quite firmly: "Initiate, I want to see you make your best effort, no matter what you're told to do. Any exercise can be a learning experience if you allow it to be, but that is not what you are currently doing. You're sulking over not getting your way. Let me cut this short and tell you how I would deal with such behaviour if you were my padawan. I would continue this exercise for as long as it takes you to pull yourself together and do the best you can. If it took you entirely too long, I might end up disciplining you and then tell you to try again. The behaviour you are currently displaying would definitely result in your forfeiting the right to do any freestyle sparring without a blindfold, at least for today, maybe for longer. I think it is only fair to tell you that before you make up your mind about whether you want to train with me. Now, since you are not my padawan yet, I will do this a little differently and simply give you a choice. Either we stop this session right now, you go off to your usual lessons and take your time making up your mind about whether you really want to become a padawan, even if it means you won't get to do fun things as often as you would like. Or you stop sulking, do this properly and might just be given a chance to do a little sparring without constraints at the end of the session. What is it to be?"

That wasn't much of a choice…. "Am not sulk-king," he retorted, arms crossed about his chest. Kade couldn't believe how much being told off by this man was actually affecting him; Force, he had taken a paddling from Eeth without shedding a tear, yet here he was almost sniffling at being scolded by Drex. Grateful that the older Jedi could not see how red his face had gotten, or when his gaze lowered, Kaden swallowed and ran a sleeve under his nose. "I'll do it again," he stated, feeling far less indignant and suitably chastened.

"Good," Drex said calmly. "And yes, you were sulking. Please stop it and pay this exercise the attention it deserves. Giving yourself over to the Force can be an extremely enjoyable experience if you allow it to happen. It might be enjoyable in an entirely different way from what you're used to, but you should give it a chance."

"Wasn't….." he said under his breath, silently cursing himself for how childish that sounded! What the Force was wrong with him? He was fast to cover it with compliance, adopting a ready stance and waiting.

This time, Drex incorporated more elements of attack into his usually defensive sparring style; this would force Kade to seek help in the Force in order to block the attacks and might make it easier for him to open himself up to what the experience had to offer him. That said, Drex was careful to leave openings for Kade to exploit if he sensed them.

Being Force-sensitive the boy knew how to sense an attack, however without the use of his eyes and body language cues from his opponent, and having to rely solely on the Force to guide his blocks, it turned out to be more difficult than he anticipated. He dodged the first by fluke, then parried the second and third due to added concentration as a result of said fluke. The remainder of their bout was one miss in every five blocks.

The boy was just about to give up, sweat beading on his forehead from concentration when Drex called the exercise to a halt. Apparently he had done something right… Or at least he hoped.

"That was a big improvement," Drex told him. "I have no doubt it was hard work as well, but how will you make progress without putting in some hard work? You may remove the blindfold now. We will spar for fifteen more minutes in the way you're used to."

"Thanks," the boy replied with genuine enthusiasm. The idea of fifteen minutes of free-sparring had Kaden smiling, and he ripped off the blindfold with a little more gusto than necessary.

The next fifteen minutes were bliss for the initiate although his style had changed, if only slightly; instead of concentrating solely on how best to make the most devastating attacks, Kade was now focusing a little more on the Force than he had previously, at least for the moment.

Drex was willing to allow Kade his bit of fun. He did not consider it part of Kaden's actual training at this stage; it was more of a reward for good behaviour. Kaden had nothing to gain from this type of sparring, but as long as it did not impede his progress, there was nothing wrong with it either. And there was a slight, if almost indiscernible improvement in the way he sparred. Drex was happy to point it out as they left the gym.

"Do you need to shower?" Drex asked. "If yes, we should best pass by your crèche, since I do not have any clean clothes for you on offer."

"Yeah, I'm kinda sweaty and no offense, but, so are you," the boy quipped. He was still smiling from the man's praise. Sure, the session may have been predominantly boring, but the last part made up for it because, blind or not, Drex could fight as well as any sighted master, if not better.

"Master Jedi. Initiate Kaden," K'Mi greeted the pair as they entered her crèche.

"Master," Kade bowed, then knelt to be at the Kushiban's level. "I was training with Master Zaryth, and I wasn't doing anything bad, I promise," the boy said in a tone that had the feline creche master struggling to contain her smile.

"I am confident that Master Zaryth would have kept you out of trouble," she intoned, placing a white, fluffy paw on the boy's shoulder and gesturing that he stand. "Although I must say you are in need of a shower, young man." Her eye colour changed from black to silver, morphing to match that of the older Jedi as she glanced up at the Hrakian. "Thank you for taking care of Kaden this morning. If you would like to stay, he will show you to his room. However, after that I must insist the boy take a shower and has a snack," K'Mi said, then glanced back at Kaden. "There is a clean uniform on your bed. Off you go."

"I had planned on providing Kaden with lunch," Drex told Master K'Mi politely. "After a shower. Kaden, why don't you show me your room, take a shower and then come to my quarters? That way, I can take a shower myself in the meantime."

"As you wish," K'Mi purred, her eyes darting left for a moment before flicking back to the Jedi. "If you will excuse me," she said. Believing Kaden to be in capable hands, she left to investigate the ruckus coming from what was supposed to be a morning snack followed by a quiet period of meditation.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Just a short piece of fluff. Enjoy! There'll be more tomorrow, and some trouble for Kaden soon...

* * *

"C'mon, it's this way," Kade said, leading the way. He kept his pace slow, though, just in case. Less than a minute later, the boy palmed open one of many doors along a narrow hallway. "This is my room, it's pretty small but you'll fit, just," he encouraged, kicking the last three days' worth of tunics and trousers beneath his bed, and quickly yanking up the sheet. "Have a seat," he offered. It was cramped, and the tiny room wasn't exactly the tidiest of places.

Drex nodded. He could sense the general structure of rooms he entered, and he wouldn't run into obstacles, but that was about it - he had no idea how they were decorated, what the furniture looked like (other than its rough shape), whether the bedspread was beige or red and so forth.

"Tell me about it," he said to Kade, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "How long have you had it? Does it have anything special about it? Are there things that are dear to you, things that you would like to take if you were to move?"

"I got it when I turned eleven, I guess they figure that if you are still in crèche at eleven and twelve years old that you've kinda earned you own space, however small," Kade said through a smile, and he wasn't joking: the room was tiny, just big enough to fit a single bed, desk and wardrobe. "There's nothing really special about the room, except that it's my personal space. I can come here and be alone, I don't have to share it with ten others."

Kade took a small, ornately carved wooden box from the top of his wardrobe and sat on the bed beside Drex. "This is all I'd take," he said, placing the box in the Jedi master's hands. "The inscription on the inside says: 'My beautiful Kaden, I love you with all my heart. Ma.' Apparently the team who discovered me told my crèche master that my mother wanted me to have this when I was old enough," he explained.

Drex explored the box with his hands.

"It's pretty, and very carefully done," he said softly. "Do you know anything about its origins? Have you ever wanted to meet your mother?"

"I'm not sure, but I think she made this, look." Kade gently peeled back the lining inside and took the man's hand, running his finger over the moniker carved into the underside. "It says Zam Lightbane. I've never really thought about meeting any of my family, I was only a month or so old when I was brought here, it might be in my file or maybe the name of the Master who found me is? I've never really thought to ask, I just kinda know it was her, I can't explain how."

Kade smiled and ran a finger over the surface, his dark brown eyes and boyish features softening.

"Do you know anything about your parents?" he asked. "How old were you when you came here? Who was your Master, and…" Kade paused, not sure if this was going to come across as insulting; he hoped not. "Are they still alive?"

Drex smiled.

"I was only a few months old when I was brought here," he replied. "I've met my parents later; I requested it when I was a senior padawan. The Council granted me leave so I could put in a week's stay at Hraki when we passed by there on our return from a mission. My parents were decent people; both of them worked as teachers. We never really bonded, but it was good finding out where I come from. My master, on the other hand, was very close to me. She was a Cerean called Te-Inda Devno. She died many, many years ago, however; I had only been knighted for a couple of years when the space station upon which she conducted peace negotiations was blown up. She had sensed it coming and had tried to evacuate it, but people were slow to react and the explosion happened before she could make it out of there. She had a second padawan at the time who had fortunately remained behind at the Temple. I took over her training. Shmilla was my first padawan, and she's still around; as are the other two padawans I trained."

"Whoa, you've trained three padawans, how old are you?" Kade asked without thinking, studying the Jedi master more closely: the lined, gold-skinned face, the silvery eyes, the formerly golden hair that was now streaked with silver. Drex was still tall and broad-shouldered, though; he did not look ancient.

Drex smiled again. "I'm sixty-eight," he replied, "which is why I was so reluctant when Eeth asked me to have a look at you. I am still in good physical condition right now, but who knows whether this will still be the case ten years from now? However, if the Force means for us to be together, we have to trust that it will work out."

"Sixty-eight, whoa. Well, at least you can't pin any of your grey hairs on me," Kaden quipped, sliding from the bed and gathering his clean uniform. "You sure you want to take on a fourth padawan? Master K'Mi says she's going to retire to a nice sandy island somewhere when she is too old to run her crèche group. She claims the reason her fur is white is because of all the grief we give her," he said through a chuckle, and ran a hand through his dark mop of shaggy brown hair.

Drex chuckled as well.

"I think she was joking," he told Kaden. "We Jedi try to serve the Order until our death, although she might be looking at a nice and quiet position in the gardens or archives at some point."

He rose from the bed. "Let's hit the showers," he said. "Come see me when you're done."


	9. Chapter 9

It was close to lunchtime when Kade found himself entering Drex's quarters for the second time today. He never would have thought his day was going to turn out like this. "Who was your last padawan? And how long ago were they knighted?" he asked as he made his way to the kitchenette from where Drex had called him in. He was curious to learn more about the man's considerable past.

Drex smiled at Kaden.

"I'll tell you about her, and about Chatzis, my second padawan, but let's make some lunch while we talk," he proposed. "There is a Hrakian recipe for flatbread with spices and herbs that every single one of my padawans liked a lot so far. Is there anything you don't eat – from among the food suitable for humans?"

"No, I'll eat just about anything that isn't moving," the boy replied easily. "What do you want me to do?" he asked, washing his hands in the kitchen sink.

"As long as you don't move in with a Hutt, that should be easy to accommodate, then," Drex replied with a grin. "We can have the typical Hrakian side dish, which is chunks of cheese, pickles, and fruit for dessert. They are a simple people, for the most part. You could knead the dough while I ground the spices."

While they got to work, Drex told Kade: "Shmilla was thirteen when her master died and I took over. Luckily, we had had a pretty close relationship before and she adapted well enough. But at barely twenty-three years of age, I still found taking care of her quite a daunting task. I think I managed pretty well in the end, but it was a steep learning curve. When she was knighted, I was thirty-three. I thought I'd take on a new padawan at some point, but I actually went for ten years without that happening. I simply didn't meet anyone who would have been a good match, and it probably didn't help that I spent a lot of time away from the Temple on research and undercover missions that lasted for months, even up to two years. I wasn't really thinking about the padawan issue that much any more by the time I was forty-three when I ran into Chatzis, an eleven-year-old Zabrak, on my way to a mission briefing. I ended up stepping before the Council asking them to give the mission to someone else because I was going to train Chatzis instead. So that was what I did until I was fifty-five. By the time Chatzis was knighted, I was a member of the Jedi High Council and was really thinking of leaving the whole business of training padawans to other people... but there was Taishin. Taishin had just turned thirteen, she had not found a master, she was extremely strong in the Force, she was upset, desperate even, and she had taken to using the Force in a very troubling manner at the medical facility she had volunteered for, without much enthusiasm. Her case was taken before the Council and we decided that somebody would have to try and see whether her destructive tendencies could be brought under control. She was brought back to Coruscant, the Council talked to her, and I felt drawn to her very strongly. So, barely two weeks after Chatzis was knighted, I found myself with Taishin. Taishin was knighted a year ago."

Kade listened to the story of Drex's apprentices with great interest, although it was Taishin's story that prompted him to ask: "How did you help Taishin? With her problems I mean?" He could see a little of himself in that story and identified with her emotions.

"I was there for her," Drex replied simply. "I made it clear to her that I would never give up on her unless she decided to reject life as a Jedi entirely, which she didn't. For the first two years or so, she needed most of my time and attention; so much so that I resigned from the Council. She needed extreme firmness and consistent feedback, be it positive or negative. Some of her teachers could not deal with her, so I took over part of her lessons. To be honest, in the first half year or so it felt as if she ended up over my knees twice a day. But she needed to be shown her limits; and as time went on, she became more secure of her place and acted up less and less. In the end, she was a padawan that any master would have been proud of. Her mental discipline is exceptional, and she is extremely good at Force control."

This both heartened and scared Kade; on the one hand it was comforting to know Drex would not give up on him, but on the other, apparently he was also capable of being a lot firmer than he first thought.

"Concealing herself is her specialty. She is currently investigating a ring of drug smugglers on Nar Shaddaa and might be gone for a while. Shmilla is away on a diplomatic mission with her second padawan, but she will be back to the Temple soon. I expect Chbindru, her padawan, will be knighted not long after their return. Chatzis is around at the moment. He took on a padawan four years ago. Quarg is now fifteen. He likes sparring, a lot; in that respect, he's no different from you. Are you done kneading the dough? It looks good. Now you take small portions, form them into balls and press them until they are no thicker than your pinkie."

"Nar Shaddaa, now that place would be awesome," he said, a faraway expression on his face as he imagined himself in Taishin's position, infiltrating the smugglers ring and bringing them down.

It wasn't until Drex mentioned Chatzis' fifteen-year-old padawan, Quarg, that the boy pulled himself from the fantasy and grinned. "Maybe we can spar together. That way you can keep your edict of not focusing on saber training," he hedged while rolling the dough as instructed; it was fun squashing it flat and he did so with gusto.

"Maybe," Drex said, "but only with Chatzis's or my supervision. It you sparred with a fifteen-year-old without such supervision, that would count as unsupervised sparring. And you know that's not allowed."

He took one of the flat loaves that Kade had produced and sprinkled it liberally with the mixture of herbs and spices he had just ground. He then tossed it into a large, oiled, pre-heated pan, shaking the pan slightly so the bread wouldn't stick. While it cooked, he put the cheese, pickles and fruit onto the table and showed Kade where to find plates, glasses and cutlery and where to wash his hands. While Kade set the table, Drex baked the rest of the loaves quickly, setting the finished ones onto a pre-heated plate in the oven. Finally, he put the whole stack onto the table.

"Well, tuck in," he told Kaden.

"Thanks," the boy said gratefully and filled his plate. It was delicious!

Drex's comment on unsupervised sparring had not been lost on the boy, and although he had anticipated that rule would most likely carry over from crèche, he wondered if the consequences would be quite as nasty. He glanced up at the elderly man opposite. He didn't look frail, and he had already surprised him with his strength.

"Would you still discipline me if I sparred without supervision, even though I'd be a padawan and not an initiate any more?" he questioned. He suspected the answer but was curious to know how strongly his prospective master felt about it.

Drex raised his eyebrows.

"I would discipline you especially if you did this as a padawan," he said decisively. "I'm sure you will agree that it makes sense to expect more from a padawan than from an immature initiate. The consequences of rule-breaking reflect that."

Okay, so that wasn't unexpected, but neither was it what Kaden wanted to hear. He took a mouthful of bread and chewed thoughtfully. "But if there is more responsibility as a padawan, and you get less leniency as a padawan, it stands to reason that there be more freedom also?" he hedged.

"Oh yes," Drex said mildly. "As soon as you have shown that you can handle it. It differs from padawan to padawan. It also differs from the creche where there was a single set of rules for everyone. As a padawan, you'll have a master who is responsible for you and only you. Some padawans might receive a lot of liberties with their schedule because they've proven to be diligent and well able to organise themselves. Others might be granted the right to practice kata or even sparring without supervision, within certain limits, because they have shown they can deal with the responsibility. On the other hand, there might be tighter control in areas where they need it. It depends a lot on the person. And on their age, of course; there'll be more freedom the older you become. For the beginning, don't expect too much. You'll have more freedom to move within the Temple, and your bedtime and curfew might be a little later than in the crèche, but that's about as far as it goes. The rest will come over time."

"I'm the oldest initiate in Master K'Mi's crèche group. Sometimes she lets me get up once the others are in their beds, and helps me with meditations, or we go for a walk in the gardens, or… raid the cookie jar," Kade admitted with a laugh. "I know she has another twenty students to take care of and all, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't nice to have that time with her."

He took a huge chunk of his bread; it really was delicious. He thought about everything Drex had said so far and had to admit that becoming a padawan didn't sound as daunting as his friends had made out.

"Can I ask you something personal?" Kade asked.

"Yes," said Drex.

Kade met the man with a curious expression. "If you believe the Force is leading you to become my master, and I feel the same, why are you making me wait? Do you think it might be wrong or that you really are too old and kinda don't wanna train another padawan? I'd understand." He would probably cry, but he'd understand.

"None of this," replied Drex. "I simply believe that the decision to become a padawan and train with one specific master is an enormous one. If you make that decision, you'll be stuck with me for ten to twelve years. Our relationship will be off to a much better start if both of us are clear about what we're getting ourselves into and feel that we have had the time and opportunity to really think things through. I don't want you to start your career as a padawan with the feeling that something beyond your control has been imposed upon you, and I don't want either of us to have second thoughts. We're no gods, after all; we're mortal beings and our brains take a while to process such things even if the will of the Force might seem clear. If you already feel certain about it, that's fine. I don't have any serious doubts either. But grant yourself the time to get to know me better. It will make you feel more comfortable, knowing what you are getting yourself into."

"Alright," he acquiesced. He did trust Drex, however, at the ripe old age of 'almost thirteen' Kaden did not quite understand the older man's hesitation. Sure, it was a huge decision, but what was the worst that could happen? To Kade, the worst he could imagine was not being chosen and having dared to hope only to have the rug ripped from beneath him. He was fast to squash that train of thought, though, as he reminded himself that such things were not up to him.

When they had finished, they washed the dishes together. Then, Drex showed Kade his quarters. They were standard fare: the kitchenette, a common room, a master bedroom and a padawan bedroom, each equipped with a small refresher.

Initially, Kade was surprised at being shown a padawan's bedroom, but after a little thought he could understand why keeping the same surroundings would be preferable to a blind person, even a Force-sensitive blind person.

Indeed, Drex had kept his quarters after each of his padawans had been knighted because reorienting himself in new surroundings was more of a hassle for him than it would have been for others. Besides, he occasionally looked after one of his grandpadawans when their masters went somewhere they could not take them; it was convenient to have a spare bedroom then.

"Would you like a tour of the main Temple?" Drex asked Kade. He knew that the initiates were usually restricted to the crèche wing and only got to see the other parts of the Temple sparingly.

"Yes, please. I've seen everywhere that isn't restricted to initiates, but it's been months since our last excursion through the Temple." He followed Drex from his quarters, smiling as a story came to mind.

"My favourite place so far is that huge garden with the silos. I remember Master K'Mi took a few of us older initiates there one afternoon, after we'd bugged her for hours," he added, grinning. "You try finding it, there was a rumour going around that there was this massive blue spider from an off-world planet creeping about and we really wanted to see. We found nothing, not a thing! Although Master K'Mi says I'm personally responsible for an additional twelve grey hairs in her fur after I climbed the silo to get a better view. She wasn't too happy about that. Anyway, I think it was just another tall story, like the ones about Councillor Koth, and Master Healer Ithin."

"I think there's quite a lot of truth in the stories about Master Ithin and Master Koth," Drex remarked. "If you ever find yourself confined to the Healers' Wing, you'd better mind Master Ithin. She doesn't tend to find disobedience particularly amusing."

Kade snorted. "Neither does Master Koth, although I doubt he actually eats younglings like Drebin said. Besides, I've seen him up close and he doesn't have the teeth for it." He had been going for a deadpan delivery but couldn't keep the humour from creeping in.

Drex chuckled and waved his hand to open the door to the turbolift. He activated the voice control and said: "Central spire."

He took Kade up to the top of the spire where they had an opportunity to glance into the currently empty Council chamber. Then Drex showed Kaden his favourite meditation garden. After that, he took him many levels down to the main speeder garage.

"One thing I really don't do is piloting a speeder, at least not on Coruscant," he explained to Kade. "I'm fine in the woods or anywhere where it's all about sensing the objects that might get in your way. But on Coruscant I'd have to be able to read traffic signs, which I can't. I can't pilot space ships either, not without support. That's why it is important to me that my padawans learn these skills at the earliest opportunity. It enormously expands the range of things we can do as a team. Would that be alright with you?"

"Would that be alright with me? Master Zaryth, are you seriously asking me that?" The initiate was working hard to control his excitement at the prospects. The speeder garage had the boy wide-eyed; he simply couldn't believe the number of different speeders and the sheer enormity of the hangar. For safety reasons, this was the one place K'Mi had refused to take her students, so this was a first for Kaden.

"Well, yes," Drex said, his voice rich with amusement. "I thought you might like it, but I still wanted to ask. Shmilla, for example, was not at all keen on it and Chatzis was fairly indifferent; he much preferred running and swimming to riding a speeder. Taishin loved it. So much so that she frequently got into trouble for doing stuff she wasn't supposed to. Of course, what I said about responsibility and living up to it goes for speeder driving as well. That said, for practical reasons, I will make sure to enroll you for piloting lessons as soon as possible. Whether you are allowed to drive in actual practice will depend on the laws of the respective planets, though."

Kaden didn't want to say it but, well he could understand how Taishin could find trouble wanting to do more than she was allowed here, because he felt the same; he wasn't even a padawan and already the boy was entertaining ideas of piloting them through Coruscant's congested skyways.

Drex took Kaden on a tour around the garage, after which they went on to the space ship hangars.

Those got the same response from Kade, that being one of awe and an underlying desperation to jump into the pilot's seat and take off!

Next, they did a tour of the gyms. Some of them, Kade had seen before, but there were a few he had not and very much wanted to try out. "Master K'Mi's been holding out on me," he commented, because the aerial equipment and trampoline rooms with hooks in the ceilings were all new to the boy. From K'Mi's perspective it had been a matter of damage control when it came to Kaden: she knew he loved to climb and had the fearless nature of most twelve-year-old boys. The two were not a good mix and she had thought it best to avoid it altogether, at least until he had a master with the time to monitor him more closely than she could afford to.

"For good reason, probably," Drex said, grinning. "We'll work out here occasionally. It's probably needless to say, but I'll say it nonetheless: The aerials gym is off-limits for now unless you've got my explicit permission to use it and an adult to supervise you, whether you use it with or without a saber."

"So, I'm just experienced and old enough to know what I'm missing out on, but too inexperienced and young to be allowed the privilege. That sucks," Kade said, feeling hard done-by. He planned to give his crèche master an earful over leaving him in the dark all this time.

"I told you you'd get to use the aerials gym," Drex said mildly. "Lose the attitude."

Kade grunted in response, but otherwise did not comment. Instead, he focused on watching the master-padawan team currently occupying the room with a mixture of awe and jealousy.

You know," Drex said, "if you had asked politely, instead of uttering complaints, I might just have found an empty aerials gym for you. Oh well. Come on, let's go to the main dining hall and have a snack."

The initiate frowned, but otherwise remained silent. That was until Drex turned from the training rooms and headed towards the dining hall. "Wait," he rushed to speak up. "Would you find an empty aerials gym for me, please?" he asked politely, hoping it wasn't too late.

"After our snack," Drex replied. "Be warned, though: Whining and complaining will not usually buy you any such favours."

Again Kade found himself feeling oddly humbled at being told off by Drex, however mildly, and dropped his gaze for a moment before following.


	10. Chapter 10

The dining hall was enormous compared to the one in crèche, not to mention it seemed to provide a lot more choices. Kaden wasn't particularly hungry, not that this had ever stopped him before.

"I know you can eat the things we had for lunch, but can you eat all human foods?" Kaden asked as he grabbed a tray; he wanted to try a bit of everything.

"Hrakians have a huge advantage over humans," Drex replied. "We can eat nearly everything. We have only one stomach, but it's a very capable one. Pay attention to the colour coding. The human section is over here, but you should still make sure all your food has a blue label."

Nodding at the information, Kade followed Drex to the section marked with blue stickers and placed two buns pocked with dried fruit on his plate. "How do you know which foods are which if you can't see the labels?" Kade asked once they had taken their seats.

"I don't," Drex replied matter-of-factly, his hand hovering over the array of plates and finally picking one that held a large piece of fruit. "I hope you would tell me if something was wrong with the label on my food. But as I said, Hrakians can eat most anything. We are not easily poisoned. It's a big advantage for me. Even if some food not meant for human consumption ended up in this section, chances are I would be able to digest it. When I come here alone and want to eat a full meal, I either have to ask for help or I'll have to pick something at random. I can sense the shape and rough consistency of the things on offer, but that's about it."

Kaden was fascinated. Once they had sat down, he closed his eyes, as he had been prone to doing quite a bit lately, and tried imagining that he couldn't see his plate, not that a couple of fruit buns were much of a challenge to find, but still…. "What sort of food do you like? If you want, I can find it for you. It would really suck bantha balls if you ended up with a plate full of Brussels sprouts, or worse, actual bantha balls!" The boy wrinkled his face in disgust.

It was at that moment that he caught the eye of an old rival sitting with her master one table over and quickly wiped the childish expression from his face. The two had absolutely hated each other growing up, so much so that he'd lost count of how many times they'd gotten into trouble for fighting.

Petri, for her part, mimicked the disgusted face Kaden had been pulling. It wasn't often the boy was so animated and it felt good to catch him out. She waited for her master to look the other way, then mouthed the words: 'Agricorps loser.'

Kade replied in kind with a one fingered salute, then added a second for emphasis. He didn't bother waiting for Drex to look away as he was blind, but Petri didn't know that… To Petri, he would look fearless, not even bothering to wait until the older Jedi wasn't 'looking' at him.

Indeed, the girl looked on with a smug expression, just waiting for the man to haul him out by the ear or smack him; it wasn't the first time she'd gotten Kade into trouble exploiting his short-tempered nature.

Drex, of course, couldn't see what was going on, but he could sense Kaden's shift of focus. Besides, the boy was projecting his emotions quite plainly, and what Drex sensed wasn't pretty.

"What's going on that is making you feel so spiteful?" he asked quietly.

"Nothin'," Kade answered a bit too quickly to be credible, all the while shooting a smug expression of his own back at the girl who was looking a little surprised. Feeling somewhat superior Kade deliberately turned his attention away from Petri, and took a huge bite from the fruit bun.

"Don't lie to me," Drex said flatly. "I might not be able to see everything that's going on, but I know when you're being dishonest. Now, what was going on there?"

Drex was entirely aware that his blindness might tempt a padawan to do things - well, not even behind his back, but in front of him, that they would never do with a master who could see them. That was a tendency he wanted to nip in the bud.

Kade just stared at him, stunned; did he miss nothing? When he was finally able to stop with the codfish impersonation, he coughed and answered: "It's just some girl from crèche who I didn't get along with. She was making faces at me," he replied, trying to keep his expression neutral. He could sense Petri glancing over at him occasionally and wanted to maintain the upper hand.

"I see," Drex said neutrally. "And what did you make?"

"What did I make?" The boy repeated, his voice rising in pitch slightly. "Um, Master Zaryth," he cleared his throat unnecessarily. "Can we talk about this later. Please?" he tacked on. After all, he didn't want to give Petri the satisfaction of seeing Drex call him out on this.

"Nope," Drex said calmly, but unrelentingly. "What did you do?"

Part of him was curious to know what the man would do if he refused. Fortunately, the self-preservation part of him thankfully won out. Besides there was a chance that Drex - being so old - didn't know what it meant. It could happen….. "I, I kinda gave her a one-fingered response," he answered, his olive complexion darkening slightly with embarrassment.

"I don't know whether such behaviour is considered acceptable to your crèche master, although I highly doubt it is," Drex said quite mildly. "I, for my part, don't consider it acceptable. It will consistently get you punished. And the fact that you tried to exploit my blindness will add to your punishment because that is something I cannot allow you to get away with in the least. Go to the girl in question and apologise."

He knew that this was hitting below the belt. In his opinion, Kade needed to learn a lesson. Padawans were expected to have more control of themselves than this, whether provoked or not.

Kade sunk a little further into his chair, wishing the floor would simply open up and swallow him; he hadn't meant to take advantage of the man, he had wanted to win one over on Petri, and now he felt guilty to boot. Nothing could have prepared him for what came next, however. "No, I-I can't. You don't understand," he blurted in a hushed tone, doing his best to disguise his horrified expression.

"Oh, I believe I do," Drex said calmly. "Now, you've got exactly two choices here. Either you can go to the girl right now and apologise in a collected, dignified manner. Or you can give her the satisfaction of seeing you get swatted publicly and then apologise to her in what will probably be a much less collected and dignified manner. You have ten seconds to make that choice or I will make it for you."

His heart practically stopped beating and the boy felt cold all over. "You wouldn't…." It was more question than statement, yet the unwavering expression on Drex's face provided the answer. "I will never live it down, it's demeaning. Please?" By this stage he was outright begging and his calm façade was crumbling around him.

"What you did was demeaning, too," Drex replied quietly, but very firmly. "You want to become a Jedi padawan, and that means it will become imperative for you to learn self-control. It also means accepting that you are not the one who is in charge. Your master is. Now, I'm not your master yet, but as a senior Jedi I am telling you that you are one second away from ending up over my knee, and I'm sure that will be plenty more humiliating than any apology would be – an apology that you're going to end up uttering anyway."

He was serious about this. From what he had seen so far, Kade very strongly wanted to project the impression that he was in control; but he wasn't. He was not even able to control his impulses, and he needed to come to terms with that fact, instead of keeping up a façade. Drex was also serious about his threat. If Kade did not set himself in motion just about now, he would have no qualms to pull him across his knee and swat him.

"I'm too big to go across your knee," Kade retorted, but wasn't about to have the man try it either. Scowling, he got to his feet, the chair skidding noisily backwards from his effort, then without further comment he strode towards the girl who was sporting a smug smile.

"Despite the fact that you deserved it, I apologise for making a rude gesture at you," he said curtly, his dark eyes now almost black with anger. His brow furrowed as she smiled up at him. He would have hidden up his own ass if he could have, anything to avoid apologising!

"Sure, Kaden," Petri replied smugly, this was fantastic! The smile was quickly wiped from her face when her own master enquired as to the boy's motives, though.

Kaden smirked slightly at hearing that, but he had already turned and was walking back to where Drex waited.

He kept his eye on Petri as he turned to sit, a smug grin of his own growing as the girl's master stood and gestured towards the door; apparently Kade was not the only one with an unsympathetic bystander.

Drex suspected the apology was made in less than good grace, but did not comment further. Kade was going to have to learn some humility, one way or another.

"You might not fit over my knee comfortably," he told the boy in a low voice as he sat back down, "but your comfort is not my foremost concern in moments like these. Never consider yourself too old for this type of punishment."

The over-the-knee position was maybe not the most practical with tall children or adolescents, but it was the one that made it easiest for his hand (or any type of implement) to find the target, which was why he much preferred it to any other position.

Kade had hoped Drex's comment had been a scare tactic, although as he slid into the chair opposite, he realised the man was actually serious. "But… I am too big, I'm almost thirteen and," he fidgeted, "only younglings are punished like that." Kade picked up the last half of his bun and started picking out the bits of dried fruit, as despite Petri's public exile, he was still feeling humiliated over having to apologise.

"Wrong," Drex said calmly. "Finish your plate and let's go."

Wrong? He wasn't wrong, the boy thought as he stuffed the remaining piece of bun in his mouth. He did try, with varying degrees of success, to lose his sulking attitude, though. Drex was right, these things had never been up to him, not that he was willing to admit as much at the moment.

He remained silent and unmoving as Drex finished his food, then stood with him. He had no idea where they were going now although he hoped it was not back to his crèche; being put in the 'too hard' basket yet again would not sit well with the boy, but he couldn't help who he was.

Drex, however, had no such intention. He took Kade back to the gym area and booked them into a free aerials gym. It was a busy time of the day, and the only gym that was free was not one he would ordinarily have taken a twelve-year-old to; but then, Kade had a good command of such things, and Drex would be there to cushion potential falls. "This gym is ordinarily off-limits to initiates and junior padawans," he told Kade. "But it's the only one that's free, so I'll make an exception this once. You may climb anywhere but the two topmost platforms. Go ahead; just try it out and get a feel for it."

"Whoa, no way," Kade said, his voice taking on a hushed reverence one might reserve for worshiping a deity as he surveyed the room.

It had everything. Kade managed a muted nod as he tried to decide where to start. It took him a minute to take it all in, but pretty soon the boy was making his way across to the first of many apparatuses, each of which led upwards to the next. In no time at all Kade had arrived at the level Drex had set for him, and glanced down; it was freakin' high. He didn't understand what difference an extra couple of meters to the top would make, and for a moment he contemplated trying it, but only for a moment

He bounced around for a good half hour before yelling out to the Jedi from his upside-down position. "Why can't I go to the top, is the roof faulty?" he asked, knowing full well that it wasn't.

Instead of yelling back, Drex decided to climb after Kaden. Relying on his sense of the Force, he deftly made his way up to the boy's level, swinging across a gap on a rope and landing on the platform next to his.

"Impressive," Kade spoke to himself.

"The topmost platforms are impossible to reach without jumping," Drex explained to Kaden. "And I don't fancy having to cushion a fall from this height. You probably wouldn't die, but I couldn't guarantee you wouldn't hurt yourself. We will only do this when you're really good at drawing on the Force to stabilise yourself. Which is one of the many uses of all the tedious Force work I'm going to make you do. It won't be about meditation only."

His explanation made the boy smirk. "Gee, careful you don't overdo the perks of an apprenticeship, I might just start thinking I can pull it off," Kade spoke through a grin, although he wasn't entirely joking; so far he had not done so well and he wasn't even a padawan yet.

It was with that thought in mind that Kade glanced over at the man, a guilty expression on his face. "Hey, I didn't mean to take advantage of you." He fiddled with a rope. "Petri loves goading me, we've fought since we were toddlers," the boy admitted, smiling at the memory of his junior crèche master chasing the pair of them around with a spoon.

"Apology accepted," Drex said calmly. "I had more or less expected something like this to happen. It has with every single one of my padawans so far, so I assumed you wouldn't be an exception. I don't hold a grudge, but be warned. This kind of thing will always get you punished. I do appreciate honesty - as do you, from what I gathered."

"Gee, again, thanks for the vote of confidence. How come you couldn't assume that I'm going to be the best padawan in the history of the Order, and that you'd never have to use corporal punishment on me because it's an ineffective method of achieving discipline," he quipped and swung down to stand upright, his face flushed pink from hanging upside-down.

"I did not assume anything," Drex said. "If you manage to get through your padawanhood without further misbehaviour, I won't have to impose consequences and we will be all the happier. I just told you about the potential consequences of a repeat of your behaviour in the dining hall. Knowing about the consequences might enable you to make better choices. Now, do you know anything about drawing on the Force to increase the reach of your jumps or to cushion your falls?"

Kade could argue that, but realised it probably wasn't very clever and let the subject drop.

"A bit," he answered, then realised that the man probably wanted more than that. "Master K'Mi spends time teaching me some more advanced techniques when she can, and when she's too busy I've had other masters and knights assigned to me. The last teacher I had was amazing at this, and he said I was doing well for twelve. I guess I won't know if I can do something until I try it."

"Alright," Drex said. "From what level do you think you could safely jump and land on your feet without falling over, or worse, getting hurt?"

Kaden leaned forward and peered down. "Not from here."

He hopped from platform to platform until he was about ten meters off the ground. "Probably about here," he confirmed and jumped. It wasn't the most graceful landing but neither was he hurt. When he looked up, Drex was swinging on a rope ladder beside the platform he had leapt from. He just hoped that the landing was his success and not Drex's intervention lest he break his neck.

"Good," Drex said. "That's a good starting point. It also shows that you are well able to draw on the Force for such things."

He jumped after Kaden, landing gently on his feet without wobbling.

"We'll work on your technique for a bit," he told Kaden, grinning. "Come on, get back up."

"Sure," he replied easily, and doing the reverse, he used the Force to enhance his jump. However, he was only able to make six or seven meters. It was certainly no great feat and barely a drop in the pond of what he would eventually achieve if he ever made it to knighthood, but for a twelve year-old initiate he was on the level.

"Good," Drex said again, approvingly. "You are fearless. That is a good quality, for the most part. As long as you're still able to exercise some caution, that is."

He linked with Kaden and showed him how to manipulate the Force in order to make for a soft landing, then worked with him on his stance for a while. Finally, the next team that had booked the gym arrived and they had to leave.

The session had been far too short for Kaden. However, he was grateful for having gotten that much and didn't ask for more time.

"We've got half an hour left before I need to return you to Master K'Mi," Drex said. "Is there anything that you would specifically like to see or do in that time?"

"Force, yeah, can we start with the rest of Coruscant and work our way out?" Kade replied, a slight grin on his face as they wandered towards crèche. Truth be told, there wasn't much he didn't want to see outside the Temple.

"We will go out into the city quite a lot," Drex promised. "I consider it important for my padawans to gain experience with real life; more important than many masters, probably. But half an hour is too little time for that. If you don't have a preference inside the Temple, we'll pass by the arboretum and then I'll drop you off at the crèche. You may come and see me again tomorrow morning, any time you like. I'll be there."

The slight grin morphed into a full smile at hearing Drex's comment, it really was music to his young ears. He had found linking with the man easy during their session so Kade tried something he hadn't yet done: he closed his eyes and attempted to send his contentment through the Force. It was a short burst, and given he had never tried such a thing before, Kade had no idea if it worked. Drex, however, sensed what Kaden was doing and returned it readily.

It didn't take them long to arrive at the arboretum and although Kade's thoughts were still lost in the idea of visiting the city, he was enjoying the time with Drex.

"Thanks for taking me with you today," he told the man with genuine sincerity. Not only had he enjoyed the day but he may have made himself a friend as well. He wondered what Drex wanted them to do here. He was pretty sure the elderly Jedi wouldn't be into climbing trees, but then again, it wouldn't be the first time Drex had surprised him.

"You are very welcome," he told Kade kindly. "Let's sit down for a few minutes."

He gestured at a spot beneath a large tree; the ground was soft and mossy and they could lean against the broad trunk.

"I like this place because it is full of life, but also full of peace," he told Kade. "Close your eyes for a moment and allow yourself to feel the flow of the living Force. Even when I was a young padawan, it almost always helped to calm me down when I was anxious or upset."

He wondered what someone like Drex ever had to get anxious or upset over as a padawan; the man, like most adults in Kaden's life, appeared to be the epitome of Jedi serenity, and he assumed Drex had always been that way. No Jedi was like he was. He took a breath and tried not to focus on the negative as he really just wanted to enjoy this place with the man he had developed a connection with. He did as instructed, and sure enough the place had a calming feel to it and the Force flowed around them.

"There will be times when you will be upset, angry or afraid," Drex said softly. "You will have to find your own ways to come to terms with those feelings. You might prefer to come to me directly and ask for help, or you might prefer to try to deal with your feelings yourself before you approach me. If the latter is true for you, like it was for me, it might be a good idea to look for places that have a soothing influence and help you feel better and calmer. It might be this one, or somewhere else entirely."

"This place has a calming feel to it. It reminds me of a spot at the top of the biggest tree in the middle gardens," Kade shared.

Drex smiled. "Maybe you will find others," he said. "You will get to explore most of the Temple eventually. Now let's go to the crèche and deliver you to Master K'Mi before she starts looking for you."

"I guess," the boy said through a yawn. "Besides, you don't wanna get on the wrong side of K'Mi," he quipped and got to his feet, stretching long as he stood.

K'Mi was busy coaching some of her younger students through some gentle exercises when Drex and Kaden entered. She nodded towards the pair, but continued with her work. The initiate shot a sideways glance at the older man. "She's always busy, but has eyes in the back of her head," he commented wryly, not quite knowing how to end their time together, or wanting to for that matter.

"I can relate to that," Drex replied wryly. "I don't even have functional eyes in the front of my head, but I still catch on to most of what's going on."

He rested a hand on Kaden's shoulder. "Take your time to think things through," he advised, "and come see me in the morning. Any time, although preferably not before six thirty."

Kade snorted at that. He appreciated the man's sense of humour, and after his run in with Petri he could totally believe that the man missed very little. As to arriving before six thirty? That could have been a possibility. He didn't think he was going to get a lot of sleep that night with everything that had happened today. "I will. Not that I need it."

"In that case, think about what becoming a padawan will mean to you and what you can do to make the transition easier on yourself," Drex replied solemnly. "It is a big step. No bigger than you're able to take, for sure; but it won't always be fun and it will require a lot of dedication. Starting your padawanhood with some resolutions would be a good idea."

He squeezed Kaden's shoulder briefly in a gesture of affection.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then," he said in a lighter tone of voice. "May the Force be with you."

"And with you," Kaden replied as the man turned to leave.

That evening the boy did as he had been told and tried to come up with some resolutions. It wasn't easy as he really didn't know what would be so different. Sure, it was going to be harder, longer and more work, he would be held to a higher standard and more would be expected from him, but how much more was 'more'? How did someone measure a how much 'higher' the standard? Kade didn't know, but what he did know was that this wasn't a game, it was the Will of the Force and he was on the right path.

K'Mi entered Kaden's small room to find him dutifully kneeling facing the wall as she had instructed ten minutes earlier.

"Alright, young man, come and sit by me," she said, feeling that her punishment for his encounter with Petri was sufficient. Drex had rectified the situation by making him apologise, so she felt the short meditation was sufficient to reinforce the lesson. The two spend a good hour talking about Kade's feelings, thoughts, fears and questions regarding this next step, and by the time K'Mi flicked out the light for what would be the last time, Kade was feeling far more confident that he had fulfilled Drex's instructions.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning, Kade was woken at seven-thirty by the sound of many sets of feet running towards the breakfast area. "Argh!" the boy complained, and rubbed at his eyes. He had figured that years of conditioning had his body trained to wake at a certain time regardless of how much he wanted to be up sooner, but apparently not.

He showered, dressed and was just leaving for breakfast when K'Mi cleared her throat behind him. Kaden turned and knelt to be at her level, "Morning, Master K'Mi," he said with a smile, "I'll be at the table in five minutes, promise."

K'Mi held up a small bag she'd hooked with the end of her tail. "Why don't you take this and share it with Master Zaryth. It is suitable for a Hrakian. Go on now," she encouraged, smiling widely as he hugged her.

"Thank you, Master, you're the best!" And with that he took off.

It wasn't much after half past eight when Kaden arrived at Drex's door.

"Good morning," Drex said, opening the door, smiling at Kade and ushering him in. "I have just finished breakfast. Have you already had some?"

"Morning," Kade replied with a small nod, and entered into the common room. "Not yet, but Master K'Mi gave me this to share. I have no idea what's in here," he explained, placing the container onto the kitchen bench; the last thing Kade was interested in at the moment was eating breakfast.

"Well, in that case, I suggest you share what's left of my tea, and I share your food, and you tell me about your thoughts," Drex said kindly, groping for the container, taking it to the dinner table and sitting down, motioning for Kade to take a seat opposite him.

Kade felt bad for forcing him to flounder for the container. Then again, it had inadvertently brought him to one of the questions he wanted to ask. He just hoped it wouldn't come across as insulting. He sat down and took a moment to peel open the lid.

"I have some questions, and some thoughts," he began, producing a fork and skewering a pancake. "I wanna know when to help and when not to. Like just now, I don't want you to think I'm an inconsiderate asswad, but at the same time I know you can take care of yourself, and me, too," the boy admitted, forking two pancakes onto each of their plates and producing some poxxa syrup; it was his favourite.

Drex smiled.

"For a start, you could tell me what this is and how best to eat it," he said.

"It's pancakes and poxxa syrup, and I think there's some genie berries in the bottom but they're a bit squashed now," Kade noted.

"Thank you," said Drex. "When to help me and when not to help me – I think this is one of the things that you are just going to find out over time. I promise you I won't feel offended if you try to help without me needing to; and if I need help that you don't volunteer, I'll simply ask you. You will find out what I can and can't do pretty quickly. I mean, obviously, I can live on my own and there's nothing that I would absolutely need your help with, strictly speaking, but your help will make some things easier for me. I take it from your question that your mind is set upon starting your padawanhood with me?"

"Yeah, I am," said Kade. "The Force means for me to be your padawan, but I knew that yesterday." That came across sounding more arrogant than he had meant it too, but he continued nonetheless. "Do you still want to train me? I think you know I'm not perfect. I get into fights with girls in lunchrooms and sometimes act without thinking, amongst other things…. But I'm a great fighter, I really want to learn and," he paused, placing the lid over the now empty container. "I know it's my destiny, I can feel it. I promise I will try not to cause you too much trouble," Kade added, trying to be truthful, not that Drex struck him as the inexperienced sort who would allow him to get away with much.

"Well, I'm certainly not taking you on because I believe you to be perfect," Drex remarked wryly. "That said, I'm not taking you on because you are such a great fighter either. I think we both know that there is more to being a Jedi than being able to wield a saber with some degree of prowess. I am glad that your feeling about the will of the Force matches mine. I will be happy to teach you, padawan."

Kade sat in silence for a long time, not quite sure if he had actually heard the word 'padawan' used to address him, or whether or not he'd finally flipped his wig and imagined it after so many years of wishful thinking.

Drex gave Kaden another smile and carefully reached for his pancake, rolling it and taking a bite, his life-long experience enabling him not to create a huge mess.

When Kaden finally spoke up he wasn't sure what to say. " Thank you. I–…." he trailed off; he had never been much of a talker, well, at least that was until he'd met Drex. He decided to shove some pancake in his mouth for now. It was an excuse not to talk and gave him more time to internalise what had just happened. For Kaden, things suddenly began to fall into place around him. He felt less hopeless, less like he was fighting for his place and more grounded than he ever had before.

"You are welcome," Drex said gently. "And I thank you, too. Are you ready to see the Council about this?"

"The Council?" he repeated through a mouthful of pancake, then paused to swallow it with some difficulty. "Oh, um, yeah, I guess we should do that. I didn't realise we had to actually go and see them, I kinda thought you'd just sent them a message or something," he admitted, swiping a sleeve across his mouth briefly; he didn't want to see the council with half his breakfast stuck to his face after all.

"As a matter of fact, I will send them a message," Drex said wryly. "But we still need to see them. It's not that they are going to object, but it is what will make our pairing official. Don't use your sleeve; there are napkins behind you. And don't rush; it's unlikely they are going to want to see us in the next five minutes."

Now how did he know that? Kade thought, inconspicuously scraping the crumbs from his sleeve onto a plate. In fact, he was still busy contemplating just that when Drex went to send the Council a message.

It turned out that their appointment was not going to take place before the early afternoon since the Council had more urgent affairs to discuss this morning.

"That means we'll have the morning to ourselves," Drex said, returning to the table. "We can make use of the zime to fetch your things from the crèche and go to the commissary to procure everything else you might need. That way, you can say goodbye to Master K'Mi while the other initiates are in class. After our return, I will take care of lunch while you get settled into your room. Does that sound alright?"

"Sure," replied Kaden. But the truth of the matter was that it sounded more than just alright to him, it sounded downright thrilling! He was trying to keep a cool head here lest his new master mistake him for a giddy teenage girl at a Zatny Zawatny concert – yeah, that wasn't going to happen. He was far too much in control of himself for that….


	12. Chapter 12

Although the next few days felt positively surreal to Kaden, he did not mind the changes at all. In fact, he positively embraced them, especially the slightly extended bedtime and his introduction to the padawans' lounge. His opinion on classes did not change that much. He was still not interested in school work; however, his mission prep class on survival techniques turned out to be one of the highlights in his new routine.

It was late on Saturday afternoon, a little more than a week after Kade had become a padawan, when the boy entered their quarters, still smiling and absolutely slathered from head to toe in grime. He knew Drex would smell the earthy slathering of mud on his uniform, so removed his mud-caked boots at the door and tiptoed into his bathroom; he did not want to leave a trail of dirt clods across the common room floor, at least not on purpose!

"Eesh," Kade winced upon getting a good look at himself in the mirror: he was a mess! So much so that he decided it would be far less work to simply get in the shower fully clothed, and he did just that.

Drex, in the meanwhile was sitting at the terminal in his room with earphones on his head, listening to a report. He had sensed Kaden enter, but finished listening to a section before turning off the device and going to look for his padawan.

"Kade?" he called, knocking on the boy's door.

He had just gotten out of the shower when Drex called for him, and after grabbing a towel from the rack he padded from his refresher, the muddy tunic forgotten on his shower floor as he opened the door. "Class was kinda hands on today," he said, still trying to scrub a few missed spots of dirt while drying himself off.

Drex chuckled. "Sounds like fun," he said. "Did you come home dirty?

"Yeah, you could say that," Kade replied, giving his body a once over and glancing at the shit state that was his shower.

"I don't mind that," Drex said, grinning, "but please try to clean up after yourself. I don't see dirt and I'll end up spreading it everywhere or having it on my clothes without noticing. Besides, I don't want to have my padawan run around like a street urchin. Are you hungry? I could make us a snack while you get ready."

"Alright, I'll clean it up, but I'm starving, can't we eat first?" Kade asked, tossing his towel on the bed and pulling on a clean pair of pants. "I can help?"

"Thanks, but I'll manage," Drex replied. "Clean up now, please. These things tend to be postponed and ultimately forgotten. I'm quite inflexible about this since the time I stepped in front of the Council with chocolate stains all over the front of my tunic because Shmilla made pancakes with chocolate syrup for breakfast and forgot to clean up after herself."

Kaden's mouth twitched into a smile at hearing that story. "Alright," he acquiesced, still grinning at the mental picture as he started cleaning up the huge mess of mud and dirt coating his bathroom.

Twenty minutes later the boy appeared in their kitchen, dirt-free and starving. "Whatever it is can I have more?"

"Sure," Drex said. He had just finished peeling and cutting up a variety of fruit and stacking them onto a plate. Handing the plate to Kaden, he turned towards the oven and pulled out a tray of sweet buns. He had already set out butter, honey and ginger lemonade.

"Could you get out plates, knives and glasses?" he called to Kade. "We should be done then."

The boy nodded, then remembering that Drex could not hear his head rattle he quickly added: "Ok," and started pulling plates from the top shelf. Kaden had realised pretty early on that his master's ability to pick up on silent gestures was hit and miss, especially if they were brief and unemotional like a simple nod or headshake; he did not always remember, but Drex didn't have a problem asking if he was in doubt.

He made short work of setting the table while his master brought out the fruit and tray of sweet buns. The boy's mouth was practically watering, but he waited for Drex to sit down before starting to pile his plate. "What did you do today while I was crawling around in the mud having fun?" he asked through a grin; he loved the survival class, especially when they got to actually practice what they'd learned in theory.

"I had a workout, practiced kata, and then I listened to reports," Drex replied while searching for the butter; when he found it, he took some off with his knife and spread it onto his bun.

"I'm currently preparing a mission briefing for a team of Jedi who are to be dispatched to Escolar," he explained. "This is something typically done by experienced Jedi who know the planetary system in question and are staying at the Temple for some reason or other. I need to gather information on the situation on the ground and put together everything that's relevant for the field team. I might also include recommendations for strategies if I have any. With Escolar, that's not the case. Nobody has found a good strategy to solve that crisis so far, so I assume it's unlikely that I'm going to be the first."

"Escolar? That's been going on for years…." Kade commented, taking another bite from his bun.

"Some crises tend to do that, yes," Drex said drily. "There's another peace conference scheduled in two weeks' time and the Jedi are sending a whole team of negotiators. I'm to brief the two persons who are going to moderate the negotiations on agriculture and land distribution. I've covered the topic for the last failed peace conference, two years ago; they might have sent me again if you hadn't come along."

He smiled at Kade while spreading honey on his bun, then taking a bite.

"Why is it my fault that you can't go? It's not like it sounds overly dangerous, and I wouldn't get in the way if I went with you I promise," Kade stated.

Drex shook his head. "You have got enough on your plate settling into your padawanhood without going on missions to the Outer Rim," he said matter-of-factly. "You need to complete at least two cycles of classes and a number of mission preparation classes before you will be given clearance for off-planet missions. Exceptions to this rule are rarely made, and only for good reason. And most certainly not for anything remotely related to Escolar. Escolar is always dangerous, you can take my word for it."

The boy rolled his eyes but did not argue; he knew little about the Escolar crisis but had to agree, if only grudgingly, that he had enough on his plate already. "Alright, but the minute I'm cleared we should go and help," he stated, starting on his second bun.

"The minute you are cleared, we will most likely be going nowhere," Drex said mildly. "We will wait for the Council to assign us a mission, and that will almost certainly not be a mission that involves any kind of danger. It might be a conference, or negotiations, or a representative function, or a mission to retrieve a Force-sensitive child. Fairly short, so as not to interrupt your training too much, and very safe. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it will be many years before you get to intervene in civil wars of any kind."

"I'm not disappointed, not really, I was more thinking along the lines of Escolar missing out on the years of experience you have because of me. That sucks," he stated honestly, stuffing down the last of his bun and taking another, although he paused long enough to actually put some honey on this one.

"It's not as if my years of experience have ever been able to help solve the Escolar crisis," Drex stated. "Maybe fresh perspectives will help. Most likely, they won't."

Kade shrugged. He really didn't know a lot about Escolar, although hearing he wasn't making things worse was a bit of a relief. "Do I have free time for the rest of today?" he wanted to know. He had a mountain of homework, but figured he could do that tomorrow as Sunday was the only day he didn't have classes.

"If you have completed at least half of your homework by dinner time," Drex said, "you can have the evening free. I want to take you out into the city tomorrow, so you won't have all day to work on your assignments."

Drex was well-informed about his charge's school work; he always tried to be, at least initially, until he had a better notion of his padawans' study habits and could decide on how much responsibility they could be trusted to take.

"You're gonna take me into the city if I finish half today?!" The boy didn't know if that was a question or a statement. He swiped a dribble of honey from the table with his sleeve. "What do you want to do in the city?"

"We will explore a bit," replied Drex, "and later on, we will attend a reception at the Embassy of Malastare. I think it is important to get you exposed to real life. I will soon start taking you to the Senate, too. You need to learn how this planet works and how politics work in this Republic, and you won't learn that by sitting in the Temple and listening to teachers."

Kade just looked at him, mouth agape. "You're serious, this isn't some sort of cruel joke, right?" he asked, but wasn't seriously expecting the man to swing around and say: 'syke!' "Because I couldn't agree with you more," he added.

Tomorrow could not come fast enough for Kade, although the prospect of time away from the temple provided him with incentive enough to work until he had finished the assigned quota.


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, they made an early start to the day. Drex wanted Kade to finish all his homework before they left because they might come home late that night. When that was finally out of the way, they made their way to the Temple gates. Since Drex could not drive a speeder, they would have to use public transport, which was all for the better, he thought; it provided more first-hand experience with life in the city.

"You'll need to help me out a bit," Drex told Kade. "I can navigate my way through the streets pretty well, but public transport is hard since I can't read the numbers on shuttles. We are looking for the X307 to Caspen Square."

Although Kade had little to no real experience when it came to traversing a city, he had been taught how to navigate one in theory during classes, so when Drex asked him to find their shuttle he led the man straight to the nearest itinerary display. "X307 to Caspen Square leaves in eleven minutes from platform one," he stated, needlessly underlining the information with a finger and feeling very useful at being able to handle this for his master.

"Thanks," Drex said with a smile, heading towards the other end of the shuttle station. "Platform one is right over there. All shuttles going westward leave from there. Caspen Square is about half an hour's ride from here. It's one of the main traffic hubs. You can get to nearly anywhere on Coruscant from there. It's also very busy, so we'll have to take care not to lose each other. Stick with me closely, even if I'm slower than you. Or just grab my arm."

"...If Caspen Square is very busy I'm scared to ask what you call this," Kade replied, gesturing to the people rushing past them; platform one was far more crowded than he was accustomed to.

When the shuttle arrived nine minutes later, the boy took Drex's arm and, although he probably did not need help, led his master to the far end of the shuttle where it was a little less cramped.

"Here you go, grandpa, have a seat," a kindly human man who looked to be in his late forties, but decidedly out of shape, offered. He had been seated in the disabled section; however, a sign above clearly stated that these seats must be given up for the elderly, disabled or otherwise impaired. It was all Kade could do not to snort at the irony in that offer; at sixty eight years old Drex was in far better shape than this man who had clearly never done a day's exercise in his life.

"Well, what do you say, 'grandpa', would you like a seat?" the boy said, faking a genuinely grateful tone for the man's benefit. Only Drex knew he was laughing on the inside.

"Thank you," Drex said with calm dignity, taking the offered seat. Soon he was wedged in between the window and Kade, who was wedged in between Drex and a rather fishy-smelling Mon Calamari. Drex only hoped that Kade liked fish.

Oh man, Kade thought as he got a good whiff of the Mon Calamari who had just squashed him into Drex, who was subsequently squashed into the window. He glanced at his master briefly, but said nothing.

Humanoids were in rather low supply on this shuttle; fur, tendrils and tentacles were everywhere. The Temple hosted a fair amount of species, but the variety out in the city was much larger. After all, many species were not Force-sensitive, and others, among them humans and Zabrak, were particularly strongly represented among the Jedi. Besides, the Temple simply offered far more space; thus, the general impression was not as overwhelming as this overcrowded shuttle zooming through an overcrowded city.

The half hour seemed, to Kade, to drag on forever. At each stop their traveling companions were refreshed with a different species of alien, and although Kade would not allow himself to stare, there were some species that he was seeing for the first time outside of a datapad.

Drex stood a moment before their shuttle announced that they had reached Caspen, and Kade was quick to follow. "C'mon, Master, it's this way," the boy said quietly, leading the man towards the exit signs that he hoped would lead them from the station.

"Take the exit towards Chaychen Market," Drex told Kade. "They are to our right. If we take the wrong exit, we will have to find pedestrian bridges taking us over to the right side, and that would be a hassle." Chaychen Market was an enormous, covered market on several levels that sold everything, from spices to spaceship parts. It also held eateries geared towards every species imaginable; it even had an aquatic section that looked like a huge fish tank holding market stalls. And it was so crowded that it was a struggle to advance and nearly impossible to talk. The low prices were part of the reason for the market's popularity; the availability of smuggled goods was another one. Kade's crèche master definitely would not have taken him here, Drex was quite sure of that.

Despite being swept along with a flood of beings eager to exit their shuttle, Kade was quick to follow Drex's directions and soon led them off towards Chaychen Markets; after all he did not fancy having to find a pedestrian bridge to backtrack given the amount of people around. No, K'Mi had never brought her creche group here, which was why Kade had a look of awe on his face as he took in the sheer size of the structure and of the crowds filling the aisles.

"Force, this place is insane," Kade said quietly, and inadvertently moved a step closer to his master.

"It is," Drex affirmed. "It is among the largest markets on Coruscant; the very largest for some types of products. The aquatic section is unique; I have been told that Mon Calamari can find the same merchandise here that they would find on their home world. I've been there a few times, but we won't enter it today. We'd need underwater breathing devices and more practical clothing for that. Is there anything that you'd like to see in particular? Or are you hungry? We're going to have lunch here."

"I'm always hungry," Kade replied distractedly, looking around at the beings passing by and taking it all in; this was a first for him.

They walked around for a solid hour before Kade found a small out-of-the-way stall that interested him. "I'm gonna look in here," he stated quietly and wandered towards a display of antiquated weapons. He picked up a bastard sword, the weight surprising him. "Now how could anyone fight with that?" he thought aloud as he tried to replace the cumbersome weapon onto the bench, only to fumble it. The Zabrak salesman was on him in a heartbeat as the sword clattered onto the countertop. "Do not touch. If you break it, you pay for it!" he scolded sternly.

Kade nodded and silently withdrew from the stall. The last thing he wanted was to find trouble in a place like this.

"Well, you asked for that," Drex commented.

"Yeah," Kade had to agree, quick to replace his usual silent nod with something verbal. "But you really gotta ask what sort of weapon can't withstand being fumbled, really… how the Force would it stand up in a fight?" the boy grumbled.

"He just might have wanted to avoid accidents," Drex said reasonably. "He can't know you're a Jedi apprentice and used to dealing with weapons. Or he might have thought that fingerprints might put off potential customers."

"Fingerprints?!" Kade guffawed. "The grumpy old git," was muttered quietly, but he did not otherwise comment.

"Come on, let's take a break," Drex said. "There's a bunch of good eateries on the topmost floor. It's a tad quieter up there and the view is good. You can pick what you'd like to have."

They found a glass lift that would take them to the correct level, then chose the place to eat that smelled the best (according to Kaden's nose). They had barely had time to get comfortable when a droid buzzed towards them, menus in hand.

"Welcome to Chaychen creative Cuisine, please enter your selections into the data screen. Enjoy your meal."

Kade glanced from the droid to his master, then back again, but didn't comment.

By the time they had finished with lunch, Kade had spotted quite a few places he wanted to see, and apparently so had Drex, as they ended up spending their last hour identifying stalls where illegal goods and smuggled merchandise were sold and traded.

"I can't believe they get away with selling that stuff out in the open like that, what's stopping Coruscant's underground police from busting them?" he asked, as they made their way back to the shuttle station, this time heading for the Embassy of Malastare.

"Corruption, partly," Drex replied. "And partly the knowledge that this stuff will be traded anyway, so one might give dealers some leeway to trade the less dangerous goods in places where one can keep an eye on them. There are occasional raids, so they know not to overstep their limits. You won't find all kinds of weapons or drugs here, only part of them. Now, speaking of corruption, what do you know of Malastare?"

Although Kade had heard of such corruption in theory, seeing it first hand was entirely another story. He was quick to forget the shock, however, as they stepped onto platform 403, bound for the Embassy, and Drex asked him about their next destination.

"Malastare?" The boy thought back to his lessons but for the life of him couldn't come up with anything other than the basic history. "It's an all-terrain planet, originally inhabited by Zillo and Dugg, and later colonised by Gran. Oh, and of course there is the pod racing. There was some sort of war but..." he paused, thankful for the metallic announcement that cut him off: "Shuttle 27 will be departing from platform 403 in five minutes."

"C'mon, Master, we might be able to guilt someone else out of a seat," he said with a grin.

"Oh, we can stand," Drex said solemnly. "You are not that young any more, are you?

Kade snorted. Apparently Drex had a sense of humour, he liked that.

"What's important about Malastare is that it's among the most influential planets in the Republic," Drex continued as the headed towards the shuttle. "The Malastarian Gran are involved in pretty much everything, and they're also behind a lot of the high-level corruption going on. Events at the Embassy tend to be fancy, but more importantly, they are a great source of information. We will not be the only Jedi there. The Council makes a point of sending representatives every single time. Even the guest list is informative; it shows who the Malastarians currently consider to be important."

Were they on the guest list, too? Kade wondered. Or perhaps the Jedi had some sort of arrangement where they did not require invitation to attend? He wasn't exactly sure. He wanted to get specifics about this corruption Drex was talking about, but given they were jammed into a crowded shuttle he decided to save those questions for later. The city scene rushing past drew his attention. However, he frowned when an alien woman with a bulbous head blocked his view.

"What are you looking at, kid?" The woman said, mistaking his frown for some sort of personal prejudice.

Annoyed at being called a "kid," Kade's frown deepened. "I dunno, I can't figure it out either, I think you're gonna have to tell me," he retorted.

The woman bristled, her tentacles twitching in annoyance. "And this is why children should be seen and not heard," she stated pompously to the man sitting beside her, however, got no reaction from him.

Kade rankled but looked away. He wasn't about to enter an argument with, uh, whatever she was; he really did not know and neither did he care to. Instead, he waited for the shuttle to hit a bend, closed his eyes briefly and reached out with the force, upending her cup of green goop onto her lap as the shuttle rocked a little.

Kade looked smug, but was careful to keep his attention fixed on the readout. Apparently, the Embassy was the next stop.

"Honestly, the public transport system has gone downhill in the last decade," the woman muttered to herself while cleaning the goop off her clothes with a handkerchief.

Kade was feeling pretty good about himself, actually. It had been satisfying to cause her discomfort after what she had said about him. That feeling was not going to last, though, because his master was less than pleased. Drex had not at first intervened into Kade's collision with the Taburian female; the boy needed to make his own experiences and he had to learn to interact with others without a master constantly breathing down his neck. However, when Kade took his private little revenge on the woman, he decided to put his foot down. If Kade had hoped that this act was going to go by his master unnoticed, he was in for a rude awakening. Being forced to constantly rely on his Force awareness in order to navigate his world, few acts of Force manipulation were ever going to escape Drex's attention, especially so when they were committed by someone he shared a training bond with!

Outwardly, he remained impassive. There was no point in raising suspicions and getting into arguments while they were on board a crowded shuttle. However, as soon as they had left the shuttle – in a considerably more upscale and less crowded area than before – he took Kade by the arm, led him to the edge of the sidewalk and said in a very calm, but also quite firm voice: "Now listen closely, young man, because I am not going to repeat myself. The next time I sense you using the Force in such a manner and for such a purpose, I am going to take you back home, put you across my knee and paddle you until you are as sorry as you can possibly be. Do you understand?"

There wasn't much the boy could do about this. Drex had his arm in a viselike grip and he wasn't about to start struggling. You did not fight with Jedi masters.

He opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again, looking left and right to make sure that nobody had heard Drex's threat. "Yes, Master," he spoke quickly, swallowing the lump that had risen in his throat. He had not known Drex owned a paddle, let alone knew how to apply one. He glanced at his boots, feeling suitably chastised, and wished he had let the woman be. His small bit of revenge wasn't worth the dreadful feeling he got from disappointing his master.

Drex did not, in fact, own a paddle, but he had a broad-backed hairbrush which was mostly used for disentangling his golden-silvery curls, but could be put to other uses as well. His previous apprentices had tended to be quite vocal about the level of discomfort those uses caused.

"Alright," Drex said quietly. "There will be no sparring for the next three days. Instead, you will put in one hour of meditation every afternoon. I do not encourage vindictiveness in my padawans. Now let's go."

Three days! The padawan was about to protest, then, upon seeing the unyielding expression on Drex's face, thought better of it. Sighing, Kade slumped a little and trampled his displeasure with the imposed sentence, as apparently, it could have been decidedly worse.

Paying the matter no further mind, Drex took them towards a huge and imposing palace-like structure directly opposite. It looked quite deserted; most reception guests would arrive by speeder and enter from the parking lot at the back. Nevertheless, the protocol droid at the front gate admitted them without question. As a general rule, the Jedi had access to all diplomatic functions.

The reception was, for the most part, long and boring! Fortunately, the enormous selection of food on offer made up for that as far as Kade was concerned. He was not bothered by the elaborate setting or the small talk going on around them; in fact, he found some of it entertaining.

The trip home was mercifully uneventful. Since it was getting late, Drex decided to take a cab ride home. This did provide Kade with the opportunity to ask some questions he'd been holding off for another time. By the time they reached their quarters, it was well past his bedtime. "I know," Kade said through a yawn as he headed towards his bedroom to shower and change.

Fifteen minutes later he appeared in the common room, his newly-cut hair still sticking up at all angles from the rough towel-dry as he sat by Drex. "Thanks for taking me into the city," he said gratefully, and although the man couldn't see his grin, his tone conveyed what his lack of sight missed.

"You are very welcome," Drex said kindly. "Helping you gain experience with real life is important to me. You did well during the reception. It was not the most thrilling of events for a twelve-year-old boy, I know, but I hope you at least understood why it's politically useful to go."

A little while later, they had completed their evening meditation and Kade was in bed. Drex sat on the couch for a little while longer and reflected on the relatively smooth start of Kade's padawanhood. He was under no illusion that it was always going to be that easy. Some padawans tested their limits right away; others waited until they felt more secure in their role. Sooner or later, they all did. Especially a boy like Kaden.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Thanks everyone for the great reviews, we appreciate all the feedback! It's great to hear that people are reading our story and you're enjoying our writing.

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During the next week Kade dreamt of all the things he would experience in the coming years; everything from diplomatic ceremonies, to civil wars and hostage negotiations. He'd gotten a taste of reality and, like most padawans, now he wanted more.

"But, please? I promise I won't misuse the Force or insult any Taburians!" the boy begged, but it was to no avail. Apparently, they were not leaving the temple this weekend and there was nothing he could do to persuade his stubborn master otherwise. Sighing, Kade stomped into his room, mad at not being allowed to go out, but not mad enough to disobey. He completed his math and Basic homework as instructed, and was surprised at being given permission to visit the padawans' lounge.

Like most padawans, Kade considered his nightly visits to the lounge something he looked forward to, and he couldn't help but smile as he swaggered into the lounge in search of his friends.

"What are you grinning at, kid, don't you know it's not very Jedi-like to make fun of another's misfortune?" a human boy, whom Kade recognised as Aren, scowled. It was no secret that Aren was still visiting a soul healer after having been captured by slave traders during his last mission. He had come dangerously close to dying after being tossed into a gladiator ring with two Acklay for sport, and was lucky that his master located him quickly enough to save him from what would have been a slow, painful death. Fortunately for Aren, the reasons for his mechanical leg and disfiguring scars were not widely known; although many had heard of his mission, only a select few were aware of the trauma he'd experienced.

Kade bristled. What the Force was going on with him lately! First the Taburian heifer on their shuttle to the embassy, and now this. He didn't know much about Aren's history, but nor did he particularly like the teen: he was antagonistic and caused trouble, trouble that Kaden wanted no part of.

"Look, I dunno what your problem is, but I didn't even notice you, least of all want to waste my time making fun of your failure to bob instead of weave," he retorted arrogantly and shouldered his way through the small group of teens, clearly wanting to get past and find his friends.

"Hey, you don't have to be a jerk about it," a Nautolan boy grumbled, slapping his hand onto Kade's shoulder, effectively stopping him from moving past.

Kaden froze, his eyes darkening from brown to black. "Get. Your. Hand. Off. Me," he warned, his head turning to indicate the webbed fingers without turning around.

"Aww, and what is the little junior padawan gonna do if I don't, cry?" The boy taunted. They had drawn the attention of some bystanders now and he didn't want to lose face because of this little twerp.

"Take your hand off me now, or you and Aren are gonna have more in common than your ability to be assholes," Kade threatened, his muscles tightening and temper rising. The air around him turned static, a sign that he was close to losing his temper in a way that would do damage if he didn't keep control.

"Oh, now that's just something I've gotta see. Not that you could actually do any real damage with that little toy you call a lightsaber," a Zabrak said, stepping up beside his two friends.

Kade started counting in his head, trying to use any and all techniques he'd learned from both K'Mi and Drex in order to control his anger; he didn't want to fight them, but his temper was beginning to take over and he was speaking before thinking.

"That's a good boy, you take some deep breaths, then go visit the potty and clean out your diaper," the Zabrak patronised.

"Yeah, I thought I could smell something. Look, don't panic, kid, I'm not gonna call your bluff this time as long as you admit to having learned your lesson and apologise for insulting Aren and threatening me," the Nautolan said, a smug expression on his face. Truth be told, he didn't want to fight the kid either; he'd lose his lightsaber at the very least if his master ever found out.

Unfortunately, there was only so much crap Kaden could handle before his capacity to tolerate bullshit reached its limit. He turned slowly, deftly dislodged the webbed hand from his shoulder and met the Nautolan with a truly menacing glare. "I'll be in the first vacant gym room in section 34 in twenty minutes if you have the balls, then we will see who is apologising to whom," he said caustically and strode from the lounge. He was far too angry to face his friends, but neither did he actually want to fight these boys and he was already mentally kicking himself for letting his temper get the better of him.

Kaden spent those twenty minutes trying to think of a way out of this, but there was nothing for it: he'd just have to go through with it lest those three turn his evenings in the padawans' lounge into nothing but taunts and torment.

True to his word, the boy strode into the first gym that wasn't occupied at exactly 1900 that evening, looking decidedly less enthusiastic; if Drex found out about this…

"Pff, I can't believe the little twerp actually showed up," Aren scoffed.

The Nautolan boy went pale for a moment, but quickly pulled himself together. "Fine, then, let's get on with this so I can kick your ass and get back to the lounge," he said, unclipping his saber and handing it to Aren.

Aren raised a brow but clipped it to his belt regardless.

"I can hardly fight him with my lightsaber, I wanna scare the kid, not kill him," the Nautolan explained discretely, then moved to face Kade. "I'm pretty sure neither of us want to take home evidence of a fight," he said simply, but his implication was clear. He summoned one of the practice sabers from the far wall, dialled it down and assumed a ready stance.

Kade swallowed. The boy had a point; Drex wouldn't be happy if he found out about this. Kade shuddered as the memory of their conversation over consequences flitted through his mind. Hell, how could he be expected to take punishment like a man when he was forced to lay across his master's knee like a youngling? Kaden would rather hand his master a big stick and take his chances standing. But just as there were disadvantages to having a blind master, there were also advantages, one being that he might be able to hide evidence of injuries easier than his friends.

"C'mon, kid, attack already," the Nautolan pushed, glancing nervously towards the closed door. He wanted to prove his point and get the hell out of dodge before anyone caught them.

Kade followed suit, dialled his blade to low and without preamble launched at the older boy, emulating the move Eeth had used to flatten him with. He drove him backwards with such ferocity that the Nautolan landed flat on his ass. He wasn't down for long, though, and deftly tumbled backwards, jumped, then kicked off the wall to land at Kades back. "Not bad kid, but you've lost your element of surprise now that I know what you've got." And with that, the Nautolan attacked with a series of blows that would have trampled most junior apprentices.

Kade, for his part, blocked where he could and got out of the way when he couldn't; the older boy was good and had far more experience, but he wasn't an organic fighter like Kade.

They fought for a solid ten minutes, both apprentices careful not to leave so much as a single scratch on the other. As the fight entered the fifteenth minute, Kade had gained the upper hand. Just when he had dropped the Nautolan on his ass, his blade inches from his throat, the sound of someone trying to open their locked door had his saber deactivated immediately, assuming that the Nautolan would follow suit.

The older boy's pride was smarting, however; he kicked out with his foot, causing Kade to stumble backwards. He expected him to jump, and wasn't planning to go further with it, so what happened next had him wide-eyed.

Kaden, in his arrogance, had switched off the moment he'd won the fight, thus, he neither sensed nor was able to cushion his fall before cracking his head on the stone floor. Hard.

Thankfully, whoever had been at the door must have gone to reset the code, not that any of the boys noticed as they were all staring in horror at the trickle of blood that ran from the younger boy's eyebrow onto his cheek.

"Fuck! You idiot…" Kade grumbled, staggering to his feet and doing his best not to get any on his uniform. He wasn't sure how good Drex's sense of smell was, but neither was he willing to take any chances.

Acting fast, the Nautolan glanced at Aren, "Give me your sock."

Aren frowned, but complied. "Why my sock?!" he said indignantly, tossing it at the Nautolan.

"Because you've got so many odd socks your master won't question it," the Zabrak said with a grin, as he caught on to his friend's train of thought.

Aren just smirked because it was true; with a mechanical leg, he only needed one sock.

"Hold steady pressure on it," the Nautolan told Kade. "It's not serious, but head wounds tend to bleed out. You're gonna have a bruise and probably a decent sized lump to boot, not to mention you're gonna have to explain this to your master."

"I wouldn't have to explain anything if you hadn't chucked a tantrum."

"It's not like I was trying to do damage, I was just funning with you. It's hardly my fault you haven't learnt to land properly," the Nautolan boy shot back, but he could see the ship sinking around him. "Look, kid, just tell your master the truth, it will be a lot worse if you try covering it up with bullshit; besides, with a mouth like yours, I'm sure it's not the first time you've gotten a whipping, and it's nothing I can't handle either. The name's Shald."

Kade kept the slightly damp, makeshift compress over his head trying to stop the bleeding with little success. "If we can find a way to stop this bleeding and get rid of my headache I might be able to save us both the trouble," Kade said, then at seeing the collective confusion added: "My master is blind."

"Blind? Force, you've got to be joking. No problems then, you're home and hosed," the Zabrak said, not believing how lucky Shald was.

"I said he's blind, not stupid. I can't just waltz in with blood gushing from my forehead and a pounding headache and expect he won't sense something's off."

"I wish I kept that tube of bacta, or better still, where is Raven when you need her?" Aren commented ruefully. Their fellow padawan was quite good at Force-aided healing; this would be just what they needed right now.

"What makes you think Raven would help you after what happened the last time? Force, if I had Eeth Koth as my master, I would have a personal restraining order out on your ass," the Zabrak scoffed, earning a snort of laughter from the others.

Aren was about to shoot back a smartass reply when he had an idea. "What about Lyn Ems? He's not Raven, but he's got more ability than we do, AND, he still owes me for, you know…" he trailed off, not wanting to discuss that particular favour around Kade. "Plus he should be in the lounge by now," he concluded.

"It's not perfect, but I think it's the best we can do. Ok, we'll get the midget out of here before the door's reset if you go find Lyn. We'll meet in the refreshers by the lounge," said Shald.

Five minutes later…

"What the Force did you four get up to?" Lyn said, frowning at the split on Kade's forehead from which blood was still trickling down his cheek.

"Don't ask….. Look, you owe me one, remember? So can you fix it or not?"

Lyn flushed slightly at being reminded of the favour he owed Aren, then scratched at the back of his head. "No, I cannot 'fix' it. I'm not a healer, this needs antiseptic and at least three stitches, not a patch-up job," he explained, then sighed at seeing the look on Kade's and Shald's faces. "Alright, I will give it a try. I can stop the bleeding and get rid of the headache, but I will need help to close the wound, and even then it will not hold up to much. I cannot do anything about the underlying damage, which from the looks of this," he removed the sock to reveal a bruise and matching goose egg already beginning to rise, "is going to be impossible to hide from your master."

Kade nodded. "If you can stop the bleeding, I may be able to pull it off."

"The kid's master is blind," Shald elaborated at seeing Lyn's confused expression.

"How come you get all the luck?" Lyn exclaimed, his eyes meeting the Nautolan's gaze with a mixture of awe and disbelief. "Very well, we should at least flush the wound with water first. I'm hoping the steady flow of blood has kept anything nasty from finding its way in. Otherwise, in a few days, you will have one hell of an infection in there and will have to see a healer." He shot Aren a pointed expression, his implication clear; if that happened, they were all going down, Lyn included, and personally, he was not keen on having the healers after him in addition to his master.

"C'mon kid, lay down before you bleed out and we all get nailed," the Zabrak encouraged.

Lyn worked on the area for as long as Kaden thought he could get away with, and after a combined effort from all four boys, they managed to close the wound, but only just. "Look, the wound is barely holding closed, so please, do not even sneeze until tomorrow or you might rip it open. If you have access to a medical kit, put a plaster over it to sleep, alright?" Lyn said, helping the boy to his feet.

"Sure, I'll do my best, but I gotta go, I'm already late."

The others all agreed, but before Kade could leave, Shald held him up, looking at him with a sincere expression. "I'm sorry, Kaden. You've got guts for a newbie, truce?" he said, holding out his hand.

Kade slapped his palm and replied: "Truce," then took off out the door.

"Hey, don't run, you'll bust it open!" Lyn scolded, his tone earning him snickers from the others as Kade disappeared around the corner at a more subdued pace.

"Shall I drag him back by an ear so he might apologise, Master Ems?" Aren quipped.

"Very funny, smartass. If he busts that open before he even gets home, I'm going down with you, and I don't know if asking you to set me up with Kishan is worth that sort of consequence. If he goes down, you owe me." Lyn told him, an expectant brow on the rise.

Aren nodded. "Agreed, but he won't get busted, so we're square for now."

Kade was still smiling as he approached the corridor that lead to their quarters. He might not have made friends out of the older boys, but he had earned their respect. His smiled dropped, however, as he punched in their door code; he knew that Drex would have a thing or two to say about his methods if he ever found out. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes briefly, drawing on the Force to project as much calmness as he could, and wandered into the common room as he had done almost every night for the last two weeks.

"I'm back," he announced, knowing that he was almost ten minutes late but hoping that if Drex noticed, he wouldn't think it was a huge deal. Like always, he headed directly for the cooler where he took a frozen fruit drink from the icebox; it was going to serve a dual purpose this evening.

"Hello," Drex said, looking into the vague direction of the door as his padawan entered. "What took you so long?"

He immediately sensed that something was off, but it was only an inkling; he could not put his finger on it.

"I got dragged into a game of planetary pursuit," Kade lied with an air of rehearsed confidence, then rounded the corner to meet his master. "Sorry I'm late. I'll go shower and change now if you like," he offered, not willing, or wanting for that matter, to talk about his evening.

Drex put his keyboard away. It was a keyboard made for blind people, with raised letters on the keys. He had been learning to write with it from an early age and was very fast.

"Yes, take a shower and get changed into your pyjamas," he agreed. "Then come back for our evening meditation."

Fifteen minutes later Kade entered their common room as he did most evenings, barefoot and clad in a pair of cotton sleep pants. His previously shaggy mop of dark hair had been clipped short into a traditional padawans cut, and was now sticking up at all angles thanks to a rough towel-dry. Some water droplets dripped onto his bare shoulder from his padawan braid, which was rather short as yet. He had spent some time running his forehead under the cold shower in an effort to reduce the swelling. However, as hard as he tried to conceal it, the boy still felt as if he had been hit by an airbus.

Drex asked Kade to sit opposite him, cross-legged, on the soft rug in the common room as they usually did for their evening meditation; on account of being blind, he expressed a lot of things verbally that other masters might have indicated by gestures. When Drex told Kade to close his eyes, enter a meditative trance and link with him, the boy hesitated for a moment, as if suddenly afraid; but then he did as he was told. The reason for his hesitation became abundantly clear to Drex as soon as they had linked. And the fact that Drex had noticed, in turn, became abundantly clear to Kaden. Barely two seconds after the padawan had let down his shields, he sensed Drex's presence shift from peaceful to concerned. And as if that wasn't bad enough, with his shields down, his feelings of guilt were now pouring freely across their bond.

Drex withdrew abruptly from the connection and said, his voice thick with concern: "You're hurt, Kaden. And something is wrong with your brain; a concussion, most likely. Where are you hurt, and in what way?"

From what he had sensed, it was not a minor injury; Kade would need a healer's attention. They could, and they would, get into the whys and hows of Kaden's injury, including the reasons for his silence about it, later. For now, it was important to get him treated, and for that Drex needed complete information. He was no healer; he could sense through the Force that something was wrong, but nothing more than that.

"No, I'm fine it's just a headache," Kade tried, hoping to all hopes that his master would accept his explanation.

Drex's features tightened.

"Don't lie to me," he said in as stern a voice as he had ever used with Kade. "You are not 'fine', and we both know it. I want to know where and how you are hurt, now."

The boy stiffened at hearing Drex's tone, his eyes opening wide.

"I fell and hit my head, but it's nothing serious, I've had it seen to already," he stated honestly, his hand reaching up to cup the pounding lump that seemed to be growing by the minute. "I didn't want to worry you."

"You're still lying," Drex stated calmly. "You might as well save yourself the trouble. I am going to get to the bottom of this one way or another. By trying to deceive me, you're only digging yourself in deeper. Have you seen a healer about this, yes or no?"

The expression on Kade's face went from optimistically cautious to resigned in a heartbeat; apparently, Drex was not buying his story. He leaned forward, cupping his aching forehead with a hand as if the gesture would somehow stop his brain from leaking out his ears, because that was what it felt like! "No, master," he answered.

"Alright," Drex said, rising from his cross-legged position. "I'm going to call one, then. You lie down on the couch and don't move. And don't even think of arguing."

He crossed the room and entered the code for the healers on his terminal; after having raised three padawans, he knew it by heart.

Kade did not comment; he did not feel like speaking any more than absolutely necessary. He might not want to admit it, but he was secretly grateful that his master had noticed this since by the time their door announced the healer's arrival fifteen minutes later, his head was starting to pound in earnest.

"I just need a heavy-duty anti-inflammatory, that should take care of it," he stated, not looking up at the healer who was shown into the common room by Drex.

"You will leave that up to the healer to decide," Drex said in a tone of voice that brooked no argument.

The healer was a young, tall, slender, turquoise Twi'lek.

"Good evening," he said cheerfully. "I'm Healer Bril. Ouch, that looks nasty. What did you do to hit your head like that? Let me have a look."

"I fell," Kade answered, the clipped response sounding lame even to his own ears, but there wasn't much else he could say without incriminating himself further. He turned so the man had free access to his injury and closed his eyes.

Bril knelt down next to the couch and examined the wound closely, both outwardly and through the Force.

"Somebody tried to patch that up, but badly so," he commented. "You really should have come to the healers straight away. I'm not sure I can prevent scarring at this stage. Besides, we definitely would have prevented the infection that you're currently developing. You've also got a slight concussion, but I'll take care of that in a moment. First, you need a shot against the infection. Are you squeamish about that?"

"No," said Kade, watching the Twi'lek pull a syringe from his bag and start to roll up his tunic sleeve. Kade huffed but resigned himself to the inevitable and simply looked the other way as the man did what needed to be done.

Twenty minutes and four stitches later….

"Thanks," Kade said gratefully as the healer began repacking his medical bag; his head no longer felt like it was about to split open and he had barely felt the four stitches required to close the wound properly.

"You're welcome," Bril said a little absent-mindedly. He put his bag aside and rested his hands on Kade's head, closing his eyes and establishing a healing link. The light concussion that Kade sported would have healed on its own with a couple of days of bedrest, but this way was faster.

"Done," he finally said, withdrawing his hands. "The next time you get hurt, go see a healer right away. Whoever tried to patch you up should have had more sense than this. If your master had not called us as fast as he did, this might have turned nasty. I assume you tried to keep this from him in order not to get into trouble or to keep someone else out of trouble, but really, forget it. It's not worth it. You all end up with us sooner or later, and with a seriously displeased master to boot. Get some sleep now; the shot is going to make you drowsy. Master Zaryth, I know you will want to talk to your padawan, but I recommend you wait until tomorrow. He should stay home for a day. And no workouts for three days."

He clapped Kaden's shoulder and rose.

"Well, I'm off," he announced. "If the pain returns or if there is any further bleeding, call me immediately. But I don't think that's likely. Good night, and may the Force be with you."

"May the Force be with you," Drex replied, bowing to him. "Thank you."

Bril shot him a quick smile (not that Drex could see it) and left.

"Well," said Drex, turning to Kaden. "If the healer recommends it, we will postpone the inevitable discussion on what really caused you to be hurt until tomorrow morning. But before you go to sleep, tell me - truthfully - whether anybody else was hurt and might be trying to conceal it."

Fantastic! As if being busted wasn't bad enough, apparently, he was now under healer's arrest for another three days… Kaden looked positively sullen as Drex asked about the others involved. "No, no one else was hurt." When the silence dragged on for a bit longer the padawan started to squirm. "I'm sorry I lied to you," he said earnestly, his tone riddled with guilt, and oddly enough he found that he could still not meet the man's eye, despite the fact that Drex was blind.

"I thank you for the apology," Drex said solemnly, sensing that Kade, for once, was sincere. "I will want to hear the truth tomorrow. All of it. Now go to sleep. It is getting late and your head needs to rest."

Forgetting that the man could not hear his gestures, Kade inclined his head and wordlessly made for his room. He didn't know which had been worse, the pounding headache or the guilt he now felt at having been so dishonest.

Drex tucked Kaden in, turned off the light in the boy's room and left quietly. He knew that in the next morning, they were going to have to have a serious discussion about honesty and taking unnecessary risks to one's health... and about what Kaden had done to sustain his injury in the first place. Drex was certainly not going to let this slide.


	15. Chapter 15

Unsurprisingly, and despite the shot, Kade did not sleep very well that night. It was almost ten in the morning before the boy finally woke. He didn't want to leave his room, but his guilty conscience and growling stomach soon had him moving.

Drex had decided to let Kade sleep in. If the healer wanted him to stay home, he must need the rest; being thoroughly acquainted with the results of training accidents, the healers did not tend to impose such a verdict for a mere scratch.

"Good morning, Kade," he said mildly when the boy finally left his room, looking sleep-bedraggled and decidedly guilty. "Why don't you get showered and dressed while I make some breakfast for you?"

"Morning," the boy replied sheepishly. Drex's composed reception just made him feel all the worse. Despite wanting nothing more than to be put out of his misery, Kade did as he was told and fifteen minutes later he emerged from his room once again, this time showered and dressed in a clean uniform.

A bowl of oatmeal with fruit and a jug of juice were waiting for Kade by the time he came back dressed. Drex was sitting at the table, sipping a cup of tea.

"Eat," he told Kade, not unkindly. "And when you have finished, you tell me the truth about what happened. The whole truth."

"Yes, Master," Kaden replied, his tone still thick with guilt. He eyed the oatmeal hungrily, although apparently his stomach had other ideas. Four mouthfuls into his breakfast he finally surrendered his spoon and looked across at Drex, a piteous expression, that was no doubt lost on the man, plastered on his face.

"I got into a disagreement with some older padawans. I didn't do anything wrong," he was quick to state the latter. "But they thought I had," he said ambiguously, his gaze locked on the discarded spoon. "I tried to walk away but they kept goading me so I challenged a Nautolan boy to a fight and, well, I won," Kade admitted, although somehow confessing to this did not feel nearly as good as actually winning. In fact, he felt ashamed. "We were careful not to actually hurt each other." He paused, not quite sure how to put this. "But I wasn't paying attention towards the end and didn't jump in time to miss a sweep. That's how I fell and cracked my head on the floor," he stated, then went on to explain how Aren, Shald, the Zabrak and Lyn had helped deal with his injury.

He waited for a few moments, then forced himself to sit up straight. "I'm sorry I lied to you, and I'm sorry I tried to hide what happened. It was deceitful and," he swallowed, "I shouldn't have gotten into a fight in the first place." He knew all this in theory, yet the practical application still needed a lot of work.

"No, you shouldn't," Drex replied evenly. "Nor should you ever try to hide an injury from me. It is not only dishonest, it is also dangerous. So what you told me is all? The whole truth? You didn't do anything to provoke them?"

"It was a misunderstanding, that's all, a bit like what happened on the shuttle," Kade explained.

"Meaning you did not start the situation, but did quite a good job at escalating it?" Drex asked matter-of-factly.

"You could say that," the boy answered, shifting uncomfortably. "But I didn't misuse the Force, I just told them where to go, so to speak..."

"I'm sure you are aware that there are types of misbehaviour that don't involve misusing the Force," Drex said, still in that calm, solemn voice, "and they are going to get you punished all the same. If people treat you unfairly or in a condescending way, being aggressive or insulting them doesn't help. Nor is it the type of behaviour I expect from a Jedi padawan. It led you right into a situation where they managed to provoke you into a fight. You engaged in unsupervised sparring, got hurt in the process, got somebody to patch you up inexpertly and tried to hide it from me, thereby endangering your health. And you lied to me a number of times in the process. Does that about sum it up?"

The boy blanched, then swallowed. "Uh, yeah, I, yeah..." He replied. "But it sounds so much worse when you put it like that."

"It sounds exactly as bad as it was," Drex said without heat, but very decisively. "And it will earn you quite some punishment. First of all, give me your lightsaber."

Shocked into silence, Kade simply stared at him for a long moment before reluctantly unclipping his weapon and placing it on the table. "Why do you want my lightsaber, what are you going to do to it?" he asked, horror clear in his tone.

"I'm going to carry it on my belt for the next two weeks," Drex replied, taking the weapon and attaching it to his utility belt. "And that is only if there is not the slightest further incident of aggression from you; if there is, I will extend that period. We will not do any saber work during that time. Other kinds of Force work and workouts, yes. Saber work, no. You have not handled your weapon responsibly and therefore, you will not be trusted to handle it at all for a while."

"W-what!? Two weeks?! But, two weeks! That's insane, you can't be serious," the boy exclaimed, his tone rising, along with his temper, as the gravity of what Drex had just told him sunk in.

"Oh, but I am," Drex said serenely. "Maybe the next time you feel tempted to challenge someone to an unauthorised fight, you will think of this and will resist the temptation. Now wait here for a moment."

He rose and went into his refresher from which he retrieved his hairbrush. His hair was thick and wavy, and his hairbrush was correspondingly broad and heavy. He only used it sparingly, in cases in which he thought he really needed to leave a strong impression. In this case, this was exactly what was needed. There was no way Kade was going to get out of this with his dignity intact.

Too shocked to react, Kade just continued to stare as Drex rose and disappeared into his refresher. After hearing he had lost all rights to use a lightsaber for two weeks, the boy didn't know what to expect and eyed the door with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation.

Returning to the common room, Drex pulled out a chair from the table, sat down and said unceremoniously: "Bare your bottom and get over my lap."

Kade swallowed as he spotted what had to be the nastiest looking hairbrush he'd ever laid eyes on. There was no doubt that it was going to hurt. He had no problem dropping his pants, but there was no way he was going over a lap at his age. Panicking, the padawan dropped to his knees, the habit a product of years spent with a Kushiban as his crèche master, as much as it was a gesture of respect, or in this case, outright begging! "No, please don't make me do that, not like that. It's humiliating and," he paused to swallow the lump in his throat. "I'm far too big, I won't fit," he pleaded, hoping to all hopes that the man would take pity on him.

Drex knew it was humiliating. He also happened to think that Kade would benefit from being taken down a peg or two. He was far too concerned with seeming as old and mature as he possibly could, instead of learning the lessons he really needed to learn.

"You are going over my lap," he informed Kade. "This is punishment. It is not meant to cater to your wishes. If you liked the way I administer it, it would not fulfil its purpose. And don't worry, you will fit. I'm not that small. Now don't make me wait any longer because I can assure you, as bad as it may seem, it can always get worse."

As far as Kade was concerned this was as bad as it got, he couldn't imagine how it could possibly get any worse. "But," he stammered, desperately trying to buy himself some time to come up with a solution, anything other than being put across the man's knee. "I have a head injury, I shouldn't have my head down." By this time he was beginning to deep breathe, and his palms were sweating.

Drex looked thoughtfully at Kaden for a long moment - well, he did not really look at him, as such, but kept his face pointed in the boy's direction. Coming to a decision, he slid from the chair and knelt, facing his padawan.

"Kade, you want to become a Jedi Knight," he said quietly. "And you need guidance to achieve that goal. Sometimes that guidance will be pleasant, and sometimes it will be very unpleasant. This, obviously, is one of the latter times. You earned it, though. The question is, do you trust me to give you the guidance that you need - even when you don't like it?"

Kade had not expected that, thus he blinked a few times before finally admitting: "I do trust you, it's just, just…" He puffed up his cheeks then blew the air out in a huff of resignation; there was nothing he could say to that other than: "Yes, Master."

Reluctantly, and without taking his gaze off the man, Kaden reached down and unfastened his pants, and got to his feet. He did not want to do this! However, when Drex sat back on the chair, the boy dropped his sleep pants leaving himself bare as the day he was born, then awkwardly approached his masters right side. This took a few attempts, he leant forward, then straightened only to attempt a different approach. In the end he just resigned himself to the fact that there was no dignified way to do this and bent over, his face red from the embarrassment.

Drex tilted Kade forward some more so that his bottom was pointing conveniently upwards. Then he started spanking him with his hand, hard and fast.

Just when he thought it could get no worse, Kade found himself shifted into the most humiliating pose this position could possibly offer. "Master, please…" The boy complained as his palms skidded forward on the carpet to compensate. He didn't get more than that out before the man's hand cracked down onto his backside with considerable force.

"OWwchH!" he squeaked, his voice briefly taking on the tenor of a ten-year-old girl. He didn't know he could still manage that octave! That had completely taken him by surprise; he wasn't expecting the old man to have such an effective arm.

Drex was still strong and muscular enough to leave an impression, even on a twelve-year-old who prided himself on being tough. Besides, he had years of experience at punishing errant padawans, and it showed.

"You don't get into fights," he told Kade while peppering his bottom with stinging swats. "You don't draw your saber on anyone without permission. When you're injured, you get treatment. And you don't - lie - to - me!"

The last four words were punctuated with particularly hefty swats to the backs of Kade's thighs.

Ok, so if the position wasn't bad enough to make him regret his actions, this surely did the trick. Sure, he had taken worse from Eeth, and his crèche master's stick had truly lifted him on more than one occasion, but for some reason what Drex was doing felt worse than all of that combined.

"I-I'm, AH! s-sorry!" he sputtered through gritted teeth. His entire back end burned, and he bit down on his forearm to keep from crying out when Drex lit into his thighs. He was not going to lose his shit over a childish spanking, he wasn't!

Unfortunately for Kaden, there was no way that Drex was going to allow him to tough it out. He felt that Kaden needed to give in to this punishment, and that included letting go of his pride and his pretence at having some degree of control over the situation.

"You took vows of obedience and of honesty when you became my padawan," he informed Kade while continuing to pound his backside with his large hand. "You did not honour those vows yesterday. That's why you are being punished. And this punishment is far from over."

His hand was beginning to sting, and Kade's backside was radiating heat by now. This was the cue for Drex to reach for the hairbrush which he had put onto the table. He let it rest on Kade's upturned bottom for a second in order to take aim, then raised it and brought it down with considerable force.

By the time Drex paused to pick up the brush, Kaden was seriously beginning to doubt his ability to get through this; it was the hardest he had ever been spanked in his life. He knew why he was being punished, and he knew he had earned it, but he honestly had not expected it to hurt this much! His face was red with the considerable effort he was putting into keeping himself from crying out.

He tightened up as he felt the cold surface rest on his ass, and for a split second it actually felt soothing. That sensation was short lived, however, as what came next was anything but. Kaden grabbed hold of his master's trouser leg, clutching it with all his might, but as the next few landed the boy simply couldn't withstand it. "YeoWCH!" He bellowed, his hips twisting in an effort to avoid the next whack, and hand flying around as backup. He turned his head to look up at the man who had just earned himself a spot in his personal ass-kicking hall of fame, his eyes bright with unshed tears. "P-please," was all he managed to get out. If he said anymore he was going to cry.

"Sorry, Kade, but this stops when I decide to stop it, not when you ask me to," Drex said calmly. "Take your hands out of the way. I know they are there somewhere, but I can't see them and I don't want to hit them. Grab the legs of the chair if you must."

Kade would rather Drex nail his hand than take another smack to his ass, but apparently he wasn't being given that option, and it was with great effort that he managed to comply.

He tried gripping the chair leg but it simply hurt too much for him to hold his upper body weight with one arm. However, as Drex pounded the brush down another couple of times, he no longer cared. He was forced to drop his full weight onto his master's lap as he went limp, tears streaking down his flushed face. Much to Kade's increasing distress, he was unable to stop himself from kicking out as a sob escaped, and it was not long before he was crying shamefully.

That was the point that Drex wanted to reach; for Kaden to submit to this punishment. Kaden had a harder time doing so than many, but that was hardly Drex's problem, after all. He gave Kade another half dozen solid swats, aiming for the undercurve of his bottom, and then finally laid the brush aside, waiting for his padawan to regain his composure.

The last six animated the boy in a way he had not experienced before. He kicked, wriggled, writhed, sobbed and howled loud enough that he was sure they heard him in the tower adjacent. However, to his credit, he did not try to beg or plead again.

At first, Kaden wasn't aware that Drex had actually stopped, and even when he was, it still hurt badly enough that he had to glance back and check his arm was no longer moving and that the brush was no longer in his hand. It was official, he was never, E-eVER doing anything that would earn him another round with that horrid thing! N-never again! Force, even his thoughts hiccoughed.

It took him a minute to pull himself together, but once his cries had slowed to the occasional sniffle the boy took his weight once again. He wasn't sure what to do, but neither was he willing to risk anything else connecting with his ass, so despite desperately wanting to rub some of the itchy burn, he simply lay there and sniffled instead.

"Alright, up you get," Drex said quietly, helping Kade rise from his lap. He put his arm around his padawan's torso in a gesture of support; should the boy wish to cry it out on his shoulder, he was welcome to do so. Should he want to withdraw, he was just as welcome. Drex did not yet know his padawan's preferences.

With a little help, Kade found his feet and allowed himself to accept the man's comfort for a brief moment before stepping back. He kicked off his undershorts, planning to go commando as his backside was completely roasted and all he wanted to do was retreat to his bedroom and quietly 'lick his wounds', so to speak.

"Can I go to my room p-please?" he asked softly. He managed to keep his hands at his sides, but only because he realised that his ass actually hurt too much to rub.

"For a quarter of an hour," Drex said. "I expect you back here then."

He did want to offer some comfort, but Kade, unsurprisingly, obviously was among the children who needed to get over the humiliation of the experience first. While Kade retreated to his room, Drex cleared the breakfast table, returned the hairbrush to his refresher and prepared some hot chocolate and a plate of cookies. After all, Kade had hardly had any breakfast.

"Alright," Kade replied quickly, desperate for the privacy of his room.

The first thing he did was rip off his tunic and pants, turn on his shower and stick his ass under the cold water. The relief was instant, although as enjoyable as it was, he could not stay here forever. Sighing, he stuck his head under for a moment before flicking the water off. That hairbrush was going down, he thought, pulling on a loose pair of sleep pants and roughly scrubbing his chest and head dry with the towel.

Fourteen minutes and fifty-nine seconds later, Kade exited his room, his gait rigid and expression contrite as he moved to stand before Drex once again.

"Come here," Drex said kindly, offering Kade a hug. "And stop being embarrassed. There is nobody here to watch."

Kaden obeyed, accepting the affection his master offered gratefully. "Am not," he lied through a grin and swiped his eyes with the back of a hand as he pulled away. "Have you finished punishing me, or is there more?" the boy asked, his gaze lingering on the cookies for a moment before he stood up straight once again.

"No," Drex replied. "I think the next two weeks, combined with what you received, will be punishment enough. Have a cookie and drink your hot chocolate. After that, I would like you to meditate for half an hour on your choices and on how you could go about avoiding a repeat occurrence. When you are done, I am going to give you some bacta for your bottom."

Kade raised a brow in surprise. He had never been offered healing after being disciplined, but then again, nor had he received a punishment that had affected him like this.

Not willing or wanting to argue, the boy took a cookie and his mug of hot chocolate and leant tiredly into the table; the sooner he got this over with the sooner his ass would stop throbbing, and it was with that thought in mind that he made short work of the snack. "Can I meditate on the couch?" he asked, not particularly thrilled over the idea of sitting on a mat.

"That does usually not help a person's focus," Drex said wryly. "Better try kneeling. It will not be fun, but then, it's not meant to be."

Kade sighed in response, then wordlessly dragged his feet toward his meditation mat and knelt. Drex had been correct, this was not fun and although his ass was not touching the floor, it still burned like nothing else! Needless to say he spent the half an hour with his arms crossed about his chest and forehead leaning into the wall for support, it was not the most comfortable position, but it sure as hell beat sitting.

When Kade's half hour was up, Drex, who was sitting on the couch, said: "You may stop now."

As Kaden rose, understandably a little stiffly, Drex held out a tiny jar of bacta to him.

"Spread this thinly across your bottom," he advised him. "I want you to be able to sit."

"No disrespect meant, but if you want me able to sit afterwards, can I suggest that next time you don't try to wallop me with in an inch of my life!" Kade stated, and eyed the tin as if it were some sort of magical talisman.

Drex just snorted at that suggestion.

Kade yanked down his sleep pants and popped the lid. He wasn't shy in the slightest, however, having a blind master meant that even if he was, dropping trow in the middle of their common room was no big deal. "Ahh," he hissed as the bacta started to work, but it barely lasted a minute and soon his ass was beginning to feel less like it had been scorched with a hot iron.

"How is your head feeling?" Drex asked quietly.

"It's better than it was, Healer Bril did a good job..." Kade admitted. He suddenly felt a pang of guilt at having gotten the others in trouble. He did not know if Drex intended to contact their masters or not but nor did he want to bring that up at the moment.

"Good," said Drex. "Now sit with me and, as much as you're going to hate this, tell me the names of the others who were involved in this episode. I'm not in the habit of making you tell tales on your peers for every tiny incident of misbehavior, but this is something that I cannot overlook. And their masters wouldn't want me to either."

Sit? Kade thought, but got to his feet all the same; he just hoped that the bacta didn't stick his pants to his ass. Figuring that the man knew what he was doing, Kade sat down at his side and blew out a long breath at what Drex was asking of him. "These boys are a lot older than me and, although I know the way I went about it was wrong, I earned their respect." The padawan paused, his face crinkling. "I will tell you if you order me to, but if there's some way around it I won't complain…" he said, hoping to see some sort of understanding for his situation in the man's sightless eyes.

Drex was understanding alright, but he needed to do what had to be done.

"There isn't," he said calmly. "If it makes you feel better, I hereby explicitly order you to tell me."

"No, it doesn't make me feel any better," Kade stated tersely, but it didn't sound as if he had much of a choice. "Lyn healed me, I fought Shald and Aren was the reason it all happened," he said, feeling like crap for having to rat them out.

"Since they are senior padawans, they will know that they deserve whatever they are going to get," Drex pointed out. "Plus, they will know that you were not given any choice. Unauthorised sparring with junior padawans is a serious offense. What is more, not only were you hurt in the process, but they also helped you to try and cover it up, instead of getting you to the healers as they should have done. I would be a lot more understanding about this if they had been no older than you are; but having been padawans for several years, they should have known better. Their masters will have to teach them to act more responsibly in the future, and how can they do this if they don't hear of the whole thing? And, yes, I know that is all good and well for a master to say and a lot more difficult for a padawan to act on."

He gave Kade a brief smile and rose in order to go the terminal and activare the register of current padawans.

"Yes, it is," Kade agreed, his tone of voice underlining his displeasure with Drex's decision to contact their masters.

He watched on silently as Drex used voice commands and a special keypad to navigate the terminal, then cringed as the holographic image of a tall, dark-skinned man appeared. Apparently, Aren's master was no more pleased with their antics than Drex. He knew the other boys' masters well and offered to pass the message on personally.

* * *

That evening Kade was not surprised to see Shald sans saber, the Zabrak standing somewhat stiffly and Aren and Lyn missing. He inclined his head, fully expecting to be scowled at for having to rat them out. He was more than a little shocked when Shald approached, a slight grin on his face. "He caught you out, huh?" the older boy said in a comradely tone.

"Uh, yeah, it's a bit harder to conceal injuries during meditation, he was on me like white on rice," Kade admitted. "Sorry I had to rat you out, I hope you didn't catch it too badly."

Shald and the still nameless Zabrak both snorted. "We're seventeen years old, of course it was bad. I'm not gonna sit down for a week, and Force knows when I'll get my lightsaber back. You too, hmm?" The Nautolan gestured to Kade's belt where his saber would usually be clipped.

"Yeah," Kade said through a huff, "but like you said, it's not the first time I've gotten a whipping."

They all smirked at that and the Zabrak clapped him on the back. "You've got guts, kid. We'll see you around." And with that, the pair left to greet Aren who was just walking, somewhat stiffly, into the lounge.


	16. Chapter 16

The next week wasn't pleasant for Kaden who realised quickly that a padawan walking around without their lightsaber attracted quite a bit of attention. He clenched his fists menacingly. "The next person who shakes their head, 'tisks,' 'tutts' or waggles a finger at me is going down," he growled loudly enough for the Bothan knight treating him to a disapproving look to hear as he exited the crowded dining hall with Drex on Sunday evening.

He had managed to keep his head down and nose clean all week, but the restrictions on his lightsaber work were beginning to wear on his patience.

The Bothan Jedi stopped in his tracks.

"You have got quite some nerve, young man," he growled.

"I agree," Drex said mildly. "This young man will spend his evening meditating on patience and serenity, instead of going to the padawans' lounge."

The Bothan gave him a curt nod and walked on into the hall.

Silently seething at having lost yet _more_ privileges, the padawan shot a mutinous glare at Drex, then turned on his heel and wordlessly stormed off towards their quarters. Yes, deep down the boy knew he had no right to mouth off but right now his temper was winning out and he was doing nothing to stop it.

Drex followed Kade at his usual measured pace. He had not expected his pronouncement to go over well, but Kaden would have a lot more meditation - and worse punishments - in his future if he did not learn to rein in his temper. That said, Drex knew he needed some kind of outlet for his frustration. He was still learning; after all, he was quite new to being a padawan. As long as Kade obeyed his orders, Drex would not impose any further consequences for the way in which the boy had stormed off.

The long walk back to their quarters allowed some time for Kade to cool off a little. That didn't mean he was any happier at having lost his evening at the padawans' lounge, he wasn't! He paused at their door just long enough to see Drex round the corner, then slammed it open with his palm. He made directly for his bedroom, making sure to give his own door similar treatment. However, there was something distinctly dissatisfying about the unhurried function of an automatic door.

Drex entered their quarters just in time to notice Kaden's latest display of temper.

He took his time taking off his cloak and boots, then knocked on Kade's door.

"What!" the boy snapped, a little more firmly than he had meant to; he was angry at being kept in tonight, but at the same time wasn't sure he had the right to be.

Drex palmed the door open and said: "You can be more polite than that, Kade. Do you need help getting rid of your temper?"

Kade just huffed at that and turned his glare towards the wall by his bed. He did not want to talk about it, he did not want to miss out on the padawans' lounge and he was not planning on moving from his bed until his 'sentence' was over with.

"Padawan, I asked you a question," Drex said without heat, but very firmly. "I have no way of telling whether you are glaring, pouting or otherwise sulking, but none of this is an acceptable reaction to my question."

Since Kaden still did not deign to answer, Drex decided to put his foot down. He made his way to where he knew Kade's desk was located, groped for the chair, pulled it out and sat down.

"This tantrum is stopping now," he informed Kade. "As you seem unwilling to stop it by yourself, I will stop it for you. Bare your bottom and get over my lap. And don't even think of raising objections unless you want me to get the hairbrush."

The boy's head snapped around at hearing Drex's instructions, his expression still mutinous. "What? You're gonna wallop me because I got mad over being singled out by Bigfoot and because I'm not thrilled over having to meditate all night!?" he stated with more confidence than he actually felt as he slid from his bed and moved to stand at the man's side, arms crossed.

"No," Drex replied simply. "I'm punishing you for dealing with it so badly. The next time I offer help with that, maybe you will accept instead of continuing to indulge your tantrum. Now do what I told you."

Kade wanted to argue this but couldn't, he had nothing legitimate to throw back. He reefed down his trousers and undershorts tersely. "I'm too old for this," he stated petulantly. Truth was, he wasn't feeling brave anymore, he was starting to regret what he'd done, but his pride dictated that he tough this out. So, jaw clenched, he awkwardly placed himself across the man's lap, his weight causing him to adjust and readjust a few times before he was lying properly. His toes slipped on the carpet and his palms spread out to steady himself. This was downright humiliating, there were no other words for it.

"No, you aren't," Drex replied calmly, "and you won't be for quite some time."

Just like the last time they had done this, he pushed Kade forward until his bottom was sticking up, raised his hand and brought it down onto the upturned bottom smartly.

This treatment was met with a grunt of displeasure, yet Kaden was in no position to utter complaints and had therefore remained silent as his palms skidded forwards in response. This position made him feel downright juvenile.

This spanking was not going to be nearly as hard as the last one Drex had dealt out, if only because he was not planning on using an implement of any kind, but he knew that dealing out a few token swats would not be an effective way of snapping Kaden out of his tantrum either. So he settled into a slow, steady rhythm of very solid swats.

"You're a Jedi padawan," he told Kade while he spanked. "You don't get to give in to your frustration and take it out on other people. If you need help dealing with your emotions, you ask. You don't threaten people, snap at them, storm off, become all indignant or sulk. I'm more than willing to help, but you need to accept that help. And you had better learn that lesson fast or we will have this conversation a lot more often."

All the while, hard swats kept coming down on Kade's bottom, covering the whole area evenly.

Again, that first smack caught the kid off guard; it really fucking stung! He grit his teeth in silent protest as Drex started to lecture, although his resolve began to falter as he started to nail the same spot repeatedly. "Alright, Alright! You've made your point," he gasped, fumbling for the man's thigh to push himself up. "Stop! please stop," he pleaded, feeling ashamed at resorting to begging, but Drex was setting his ass on fire here.

Like the last time, Drex was deaf to Kaden's pleas. He was not going to stop this spanking just because he was asked to. Instead, he continued focussing on particular spots, dealing out several swats in the same place in quick succession, paying special attention to the undercurve of Kaden's bottom. He knew from experience that this was quite hard to bear, and that was rather the point.

"L-let me up!" Kade bellowed when Drex started focusing his wrath on his undercurve. "Ahh!" he shouted, twisting at the waist and fisting the rug; he wasn't going to lose his shit over this, not again.

"Stop ordering me around," said Drex, not letting up on Kaden in the least. There was no trace of annoyance in his voice, but no hint of lenience either. He now went for the lowest part of Kaden's bottom just where it met his thighs, targeting it over and over again.

"I-I'm. Not. Ord-ering, you! I- I'm ask-king!" Actually, it was more like begging by this stage, but he didn't like how that sounded. Unfortunately, he was still a twelve-year-old boy and having his backside pounded into next week was hard to bear. It was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened, and his eyes filled with unshed tears.

Much to his credit, or stupidity! he toughed it out through another volly of painful swats before finally giving in and dropping his weight onto the man's lap. It was humiliating, but, well, it really hurt. Another solid wallop to the back of his thighs and the boy lost it. He hung his head and, despite his stubbornness, buried his face in a tunic sleeve and started crying.

This time, Drex ended the spanking right away. He had wanted to break through Kade's stubbornness, rather than discipline him for a serious offense like he had done a week ago.

He helped Kaden up from his lap and rose from the chair, hugging the boy briefly.

"I'll give you five minutes to get yourself together," he told him. "Make up your mind whether you still need help dealing with your frustration or not. I'll be right back."

He clapped Kaden's shoulder and left the room.

He kept his head down, his face practically radiating with shame as he held his breath to keep from hiccoughing. He managed, just, and the second he was alone the kid fell onto his bed and cried into his pillow. He was not crying from the pain or humiliation alone, but also from a week's worth of frustration at the restrictions his master had placed on him.

It only took him a minute or so to pull himself together, and he was soon in the refresher splashing water on his face. He pulled off his tunic that was now wet in places and tossed it across his towel rack, then twisted to inspect the damage, "Ahh," he hissed quietly. Yep, his ass was red and it hurt plenty bad enough, but nothing like he had experienced the week before when Drex had nailed him with that bat he called a hairbrush. The boy vowed that the wretched thing was on borrowed time though he had yet to come up with a plan that did not involve the outright destruction of something that may be sentimental to his master.

He was still deep in thought when a tap on his door drew his attention. He gave his backside one last rub, pulled up his pants and walked back into his room where Drex was standing. Kade was no longer lost in his temper, and much to his surprise, he was feeling a little lighter, as if the man had literally pounded the frustration clean out of him. There was also an odd sense of safety mingled in with the shame over being spanked; Drex was not going to let him lose control.

There was a long silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. "I shouldn't have mouthed off to the Bothan, and," he swallowed, his pride smarting. "I deserved punishment for losing my temper and taking it out on you. I'm sorry for that, will you forgive me?" Kade asked. It was hard for him to admit that he'd gotten what he deserved, but he respected Drex and knew when to call a spade a spade.

Drex put a hand on Kade's shoulder.

"Thank you, padawan," he said gently. "Of course I will forgive you. I've never held a grudge against you in the first place. I'm glad you apologised and even more glad that you've been able to admit your mistake. And now I ask you again: Do you need help with the meditation I assigned you?"

The boy felt his face flush slightly at Drex's praise. What the Force was wrong with him? He didn't usually react to praise or censure like this. Swallowing, he carded a hand through his short hair, making it stick straight up into a spiky mess. "I don't need help, but, I would like it," he admitted honestly. "Ninety minutes is a long time even without a sore ass," he elaborated. Then a horrifying thought occurred to him: was Drex planning to make him complete their usual nightly routine as well? Force, he didn't think he could sit for two hours, at least not with complete focus.

"It is," Drex confirmed. "That's why I hope it's an incentive for you to think before you let your mouth run away with you the next time. I'll be happy to meditate with you, though."

If Kade pulled himself together and made a real effort, Drex was even willing to forgo asking for their usual nightly meditation on their training bond on top of Kade's sentence - but only then.

He really didn't want to spend the next two hours meditating on patience and serenity but guessed he had it coming. And who knew – maybe with Drex's help it might just turn out to be enjoyable; the boy was nothing if not optimistic.

Kade blew out a long sigh, then asked: "How and where?," his shoulders slumping in defeat.

"Wherever you would feel most comfortable," Drex replied. "In as far as you are capable of feeling comfortable right now."

"Can we go to the arboretum? You know, the one you showed me the day you helped out with Eeth's saber class?" he suggested hopefully, then winced slightly at the memory of that particular class. Eeth had walloped him for disobeying, but at the same time had taken the time to help guide him to a master. Kaden was grateful for his help and had planned to thank him for caring enough to go to the trouble, but had not yet done so. When his lightsaber was returned he would, but definitely not before. It was bad enough enduring disapproval from the Temple at large, let alone from Eeth.

"Sure," Drex agreed. He liked that place a lot and was glad to see that Kade seemed to share that feeling.

Once they had arrived, Drex showed Kade to a secluded spot under a very old tree with an enormous trunk and low-hanging branches. Sitting between its roots and leaning back against its trunk felt a bit like being in the tree's womb, he had always thought. "Tonight, we will try to approach that place inside yourself where you rid yourself of all emotion," he told Kade softly. "Ambition, frustration, passion, desires, fears - all that won't matter. It will be just you and the Force. And you are where the Force means for you to be. Nothing else is important. Enter a meditative trance and link with me."

The place was special to Kaden because it was the first place Drex took him that meant something to the man, and he happened to agree: it was beautiful here.

Despite struggling in places to keep his focus, Kade managed to meditate for the hour and half without complaint. In fact, the boy found that his link with Drex provided him with the means to attain a state of mind that he was not yet able to achieve by himself.

When Drex indicated that it was time to finish, Kade was actually a little reluctant, and he resisted for a moment before allowing himself to be led from the trance. Stretching his arms long, the boy got to his feet, rubbed his backside and yawned. He was now feeling far better able to deal with his frustrations. Since he knew that taking it out on his master was not the right way to handle them, he was also glad that Drex had put a lid on his behaviour.

"You did well, padawan," Drex told him as they rose and made their way toward the exit. "I hope you will make more of an effort to deal with your situation with some degree of dignity from now on. After all, you brought it upon yourself."

"I know," he agreed, but there was something in the man's words that caused Kade to pause. "Dignity?" He raised a brow. "You punish me like a youngling but you want me to act with the dignity of a Jedi padawan?" he questioned honestly. There was no anger or accusation in his tone, however he still believed he was too old and far too big to spank.

"Dignity does not lie in what others do to you, but in how you deal with it," Drex replied calmly. "And I don't mean your immediate reaction to a spanking. I mean your acceptance of it as something that is meant to help you learn and grow. The same goes for the fact that you currently are without a saber. Accepting this and trying to learn from it would be a lot more dignified reaction than snapping at people who are shaking their heads at you."

"Yes, Master," he replied, because he knew that Drex was right on both counts. However…. "And perhaps they could act in a more dignified manner also." It was as far as he was willing to take that. After all, he knew why he was in disgrace; it was largely the point of having your weapon taken away.

"Yes, perhaps," Drex agreed. "But they are not my concern. You are." He gave Kade a smile as they walked towards the turbo lifts.

"Yeah, although it would be nice if you found other ways of expressing your concerns," Kade said, palming the turbo lift and selecting the correct floor.

"Oh, I do," Drex said serenely. "Plenty of other ways. Didn't we just meditate for ninety minutes?"

"Yes, but I could have done without the prelude," Kade countered. "And speaking of meditating, do I really have to do another half hour?" Kaden would not complain. He liked meditating on their bond, it was soothing, but another half hour sitting on his ass was not going to be pleasant.

"Oh, the prelude was entirely unnecessary," Drex said unsympathetically. "Meaning that you could have easily avoided it. And I think you have done enough meditation for tonight. We can have a cup of tea together if you like, and then it's bedtime for you."

Kade snorted, but did not comment further.

It did not take them long to return home, and the cup of tea was exactly what the boy felt like. "Thanks for taking me to the arboretum," he said as he climbed into bed. He was feeling mentally worn out and was practically asleep before his head hit the pillow. Life as a padawan was a challenge, yet it was a challenge that Kaden was going to meet head on.


	17. Chapter 17

The next few days passed by uneventfully, albeit slowly. Despite being allowed to visit the padawans' lounge, by Wednesday Kaden was more than ready to have his lightsaber returned. To his credit, he managed to keep his mouth shut and comments to himself and in fact began to notice that if he returned the occasional admonitory expression with contrition, more often than not he received empathy.

"Kade, get your shit together or we're gonna be late," Ganar said, playfully shoving his friend along with a shoulder.

"Alright, keep your mask on," he told the Kel Dor and reluctantly moved passed the hall where he had been watching an open sparring session with interest. "Can anyone join in those classes, or do you need to be assigned them?" he asked curiously as they entered the turbo lift that would take them to their next classroom.

"What, the open sparring sessions? I don't know. I've never been to one before, why do you ask?" Ganar knew why his friend was walking around without his weapon and was pretty sure he knew what was on his mind.

Kade shot him a grin, but didn't answer; the less his friends knew about his thoughts, the less trouble they would find should he get caught out.

That afternoon Kade detoured past the hall where the sparring session had been, and unsurprisingly it was now empty, he poked his head in the door.

"You're a bit early, the next session doesn't start for another twenty minutes," Finn said, having spotted the dark-haired boy and recognised him as the same kid who had been watching earlier.

Far out! Kade thought as he looked up at what had to be the tallest, awkwardly coltish looking human teen he'd ever seen.

Finn just smirked at the reaction. At sixteen years of age, the teenager stood at an impressive 193cm tall, and apparently, he was still growing.

"Hey, Master? Are the times the same all week?" Finn called over his shoulder when it appeared the younger boy had gone mute.

"Sure are. The itinerary's on the holonet if you're interested," replied a stoughtly built, humanoid female who was busy tossing focus mitts into a bag.

"Thanks, I'll check it out," Kade said and took off for home.

"I'm back," he announced as was now his habit since becoming apprenticed to the blind Hrakian. "Hey, do you think it would be alright if I had lunch in the dining hall with some friends tomorrow?" he asked while casually tossing his cloak over the back of a chair.

"Hello, padawan," Drex said warmly, emerging from the kitchen with a big bowl of noodles. "I don't see why not. Any particular reason for asking? Have you seen enough of me this week?"

"Not really, I just thought you might be a bit concerned when I didn't show up for lunch tomorrow," he said through a grin, although his eyes were locked firmly on the steaming bowl of noodles in Drex's hand.

"Not pleased, would be more like it," Drex commented, setting the bowl down on the dining table. "Come on, wash your hands, sit down and tuck in. And then tell me about your school day."

Kaden did as bade, the noodles looked amazing and he really was starving.

"There isn't much to tell, classes were boring as usual," he confessed, having paused just long enough to swallow. "What did you do?" He wanted to know.

Drex smiled. "I prepared lunch," he said. "Before that, I talked to Master Gawain who is in charge of the junior padawans' training schedule. He put me down as a teacher for levitation and Jedi philosophy for the upcoming cycle since it is clear that I won't be going on missions."

Despite feeling a brief pang of guilt at knowing he was the reason Drex was not going on missions, Kade knew that the man would go if he had to.

"I was pretty good a levitation during crèche, although philosophy kinda sucked," the boy admitted, taking another mouthful of noodles. "This is freakin' amazing, what is it?"

"Just the leftovers from the cooler, stir-fried with some spices," Drex replied. "I'm glad you like it. Truth be told, gourmet cooking is beyond me unless I have help, but I manage simple things. At least in this kitchen, which I know inside out."

That afternoon, he took Kade to the trampolines where they practiced flips. After that, he looked at the boy's level of skill at performing Force pushes. Nothing of this involved a saber, but it was not as boring as it might have been either. With any luck, they would get through Kaden's saber-less period without further incidents…

By the time evening meditation came around Kaden was beginning to have second thoughts over attending that open sparring session. Sure, in the heat of the moment he had wanted nothing more, and he certainly craved the adrenalin of competition, but he just couldn't bring himself to go against Drex. Not only did it fly in the face of his vow of obedience, it would also undoubtedly land him in deep shit if Drex caught him out.

If Kaden harboured doubts about whether or not he was going to attend that open sparring session, they were squashed the next morning when, coincidentally, their meditation was focused on accepting discipline with dignity and learning from it.

He still had lunch with his friends that afternoon but he was uncharacteristically distracted. He was bored with their workouts and sick of being frowned at; it felt like there was no fun in his life right now. Of course that was entirely the point, as Drex had pointed out when he'd complained: it wasn't punishment if he enjoyed it. Still.

"Kade-en!" Ganar spoke in deliberately broken Basic. "What the Force is wrong with you?" he asked when the boy failed to comment on the latest horrors Master Tyler had assigned to them as homework that evening.

"Nothing, I'm just tired," Kade defended himself coolly, then rolled his eyes at receiving a couple of curious expressions.

"I've been a padawan for just over a month, how did you feel after a month?" he elaborated, meeting their group with a raised brow.

This response seemed to placate the bunch, earning nods and grunts of understanding and a sympathetic clap on the shoulder from Ganar. "Don't worry, it gets easier, trust me," he said sympathetically and started bagging out their history teacher once again.

Kade did a credible job of focusing on the conversation. However, his heart just wasn't in it. "I'm gonna head over and watch the open sparring for a while, I'll see you all tonight," he said, pushing his barely touched lunch aside and standing.

Ganar frowned. "Just to watch, right?"

"Of course. I'm bored, not crazy," Kade said honestly, then, having been waved off by the group, took off for the sparring hall.

Maybe watching the class would help quash his urge to fight. Who knew, it might even turn out to be just as fun as joining in.

… That thought was quickly cut off as he arrived at the door five minutes later to find that Finn and his master had been replaced by none other than Master Jin-Dai Long. He had fought the slender, almond-eyed master in Eeth's initiates saber class and he'd never had more fun in his life; she was truly amazing. It was fate, the Force was cutting him some slack because Drex sure as hell wasn't! Before his conscience had a chance to veto that insanity, he had summoned a training saber from the wall and made his way towards the group.

Jin-Dai raised her eyebrows as she saw Kade approach. She had heard that Drex had taken him on as a padawan and had been pleased to hear it. She was rather surprised, though, that the man was already allowing Kade to take part in open sparring sessions; if there was one area of Kaden's training that she would have thought needed to be closely watched, it was sparring. Besides, most masters allowed for more time to get to know their charges before they gave them permission to spar without their supervision, even if another Jedi was present. On the other hand, she felt that it would be unfair to question the legitimacy of Kaden's presence without any evidence of wrongdoing on his part.

"Hello, Kaden," she said quite pleasantly, her face and voice not betraying any of her doubts. "Would you like to join this session?"

"Well, I sure as hell don't want to weave baskets," he quipped, a cheeky grin on his face as he moved to stand opposite the last student in line.

Jin-Dai felt strongly tempted to ask Kaden whether he actually had his master's permission to be here. Then again, he had done nothing specific to warrant her suspicions, and it was not a question she asked the other students either. It would not be nice, she felt, to single him out in front of all others. She decided to keep a close eye on him and check with Drex later. She needed talk to the man anyway since she was currently preparing a report on a topic that he had expertise on; that way, she might be able to mention his padawan's presence in the sparring session inconspicuously, without making it seem as if she had it in for Kaden.

A group of ten junior padawans, most of them around twelve or thirteen years of age and all of them with practice sabers, had gathered for the session. It was an open sparring session, so all that was required from her was to team them up, monitor them, intervene when someone violated the rules of sparring, and rotate the pairings occasionally.

"Start!" she called, and the sparring began. Jin-Dai walked between the teams, calling out an occasional word of advice; without showing it, she paid particular attention to what Kaden, who was teamed up with a stout Iktotchi boy, was doing.

Kade, for his part, was thrilled to be at the business end of a lightsaber, although as the unfamiliar practice blade, far lighter than his own, hummed to life in his hands, he suddenly wasn't so sure this was a good idea. What was he doing? It briefly crossed his mind to deactivate the weapon and excuse himself, but Jin-Dai knew his master and it might arouse suspicions, especially since the woman already knew how much he loved to fight.

The Iktotchi teamed up with Kaden knew nothing of his inner struggle and attacked with gusto. The second his opponent moved, Kade's demeanour shifted from guilt to absolute focus, and although he was mindful to keep a lid on his aggression it was clear that this boy, as talented as he was, would be no match for him. Nevertheless he went through the motions, all the while praying to the Force that, given he was already up to his neck in this, he'd get a couple of minutes with Jin-Dai.

Jin-Dai did him no such favour, however. This was simply an open sparring session that gave padawans a chance to practice with their peers. She had an even number of padawans, too, so there was no need for her to team up with anyone. She did give suggestions, and once she intervened when a match between two Zabrak padawans turned into more of a hand-to-hand fight, but she did not invite anyone to spar against her. Kaden seemed to make an effort to keep his aggression in check, and it was a much more credible effort than the last time she had met him. Drex had a positive effect on the boy, she mused. After ten minutes, she called the match to a halt, gave the padawans a moment to catch their breath and drink some water, and made them change partners.

Kade fought through two more opponents before he realised that Jin-Dai was not going to fight him, or any of them for that matter. In hindsight he probably should have known; this was a supervised open session, after all, and the Jedi master would need to focus on doing her job, not on him. As this thought came to mind, the boy began to feel guilty again and in his haste to finish his current fight and get the hell out of dodge, he unintentionally began speeding up his attacks. He was still within acceptable levels; however, when Jin-Dai called for their final break, the girl Kade had been fighting was looking a little rattled. "Good fight," he said with a smile, and turned to find the Jedi master. "I have to get back, I've got a mountain of homework to finish," he said politely, offering the woman a bow. They only had another ten minutes of class left, and given the fact that he was not the only one leaving, he didn't think it would look suspicious. He replaced the training saber onto the wall rack and took his time leaving, just in case Jin-Dai decided to step in. She didn't.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: We'd like to thank everyone for their comments, support and speculation on the characters and plot direction. This is the last chapter. However, we've pulled up the sequel and have started editing. We should have the new story up soon! It's going to have more of Eeth in it, too… We hope you all enjoy!

* * *

After having left the open sparring session, Kade splashed some water on his face and freshened up, not that the session had challenged him all that much. Still, he didn't want to look like he'd done more than have lunch with his friends. "I'm back," he called upon entering their quarters, having sensed Drex's presence. He made a beeline for the cooler as he did every afternoon and took out a frozen juice box. He hadn't eaten much of his lunch, after all.

"So I noticed," Drex said neutrally, emerging from his room where he had just finished a comm call. "Come here, please." He was standing in the middle of the common room, arms folded across his chest. He did not look happy – and that was saying something, for Drex rarely projected anything but calmness and serenity, even when he was being stern.

If the tone of voice wasn't enough to clue the boy in, the expression on his master's face and staunch posture sure did. Kaden swallowed and fumbled the frozen fruit drink. He was quick to pull himself together, though, because logic told him that the chances of Drex finding out at all, let alone this quickly, were remote at best. "Is something wrong, did something happen?" he enquired.

"Stop this," Drex said. He did not say it all that sharply, but he managed to sound very stern nonetheless. "You know exactly what happened and I know it, too. Was there anything unclear about my instructions concerning your use of a saber during these two weeks?"

The kid's jaw practically hit the floor and his expression said it all.

Fuck!

There was a very long pause before he managed a rather shocked sounding: "No."

"I didn't think so," Drex said coolly. "What possessed you, then, to not only use one, but take part in a sparring session as well?"

He wanted to say that he didn't know, because, well, Force, he wasn't sure he was going to be able to explain. Unfortunately, he also knew that an answer like that would most likely end with him meditating until he did know, so the boy ploughed ahead. "I… it's kinda complicated," he stammered, then, upon seeing the expression on his master's face, decided to attempt elaborating. "I saw the class yesterday and it looked like fun. At first I was planning to join, but then I decided it wasn't right so I would just watch instead. When I arrived Jin Dai was there and I remembered how amazing she was, and she really is incredible, I've never sparred with someone like her before!" He paused for a moment to clear his throat. "I didn't care about sparring with the others. I was just hoping to get a few minutes with her, but she was too busy, so I left. That's all."

"And while you were waiting for her to be less busy than she was, you sparred with any number of other people," Drex stated flatly. "Let's suppose she would have had time for you, though. Would that have made your actions any less disobedient?"

"But…" Kade blew out a sigh and frowned at the floor. "No." He wanted to argue that he was supervised by a Jedi master, and not just any Jedi master, but Jin-Dai, one of Drex's personal friends. Oh! His mistake had just hit him like a tonne of bricks; of course Jin-Dai would make mention of seeing him at her class; she and Drex were friends. He was an idiot!

"No," Drex agreed. "Disobedience is unacceptable. Disobedience concerning a punishment that has been meted out for your correction is doubly unacceptable. For a start, this will mean that your time without a saber will be doubled. Two more weeks, after the first two are over. Now go to my refresher and fetch me my hairbrush. We will talk about the rest of your punishment after you have taken the sound spanking you deserve for this."

Another two weeks! Surely he's not serious! the boy thought. One look at the now imposing-looking Hrakian told him that he was.

Horrified into silence, he backed into his master's bedroom and stood in the refresher door, stalling for time. Like most things in their apartment, everything in here had a place. The toothbrush, soap, shampoo bottles and, unfortunately Drex's hairbrush were always in the same spot and easy to find. He picked up the weapon that his master called a 'hairbrush' and cringed at the weight; he had never been able to look at the thing quite the same after Drex had whaled him with it.

Reluctantly, he re-entered their common room to find Drex still standing, arms crossed and looking decidedly displeased. The boy felt a pang of guilt, and despite desperately wanting to beg the man for an alternative, he didn't. Instead, he swallowed, slid a chair from the dining room and positioned it in the exact place Drex had used the first time he'd gotten spanked. With shaky hands he began to loosen the knot in his pants. Typically he could do this with his eyes shut in a split second, yet today he was struggling for obvious reasons. He had no idea if this was how his master planned to do this, but felt that a show of acceptance couldn't hurt because…. well, what was about to go down was sure going to.

Drex had a fair sense of what Kade was doing. Well, at least he showed acceptance of his punishment now although he would have done himself a big favour if he had managed to avoid earning punishment altogether.

"Waiting for a few more days wouldn't have hurt," he told Kade tersely, sitting down on the chair. "This will. Get over my lap."

He was not angry; he never really was. He was, however, extremely determined to put a stop to the kind of behavior Kade had displayed today. This punishment was going to be memorable, and there would be more of it to come.

Kade stiffened slightly at the order, then swallowed at the comment that followed. Yes, this was going to hurt, especially with the bat his master tried passing off as a personal grooming accoutrement… What he wanted was to go back in time and redo the day; if only time travel were among his options.

He yanked down his pants, baring his bottom, and then he paused. Force, he hated doing this it was just downright awkward for a boy of his build. Sure he wasn't tall at 145cm, but his forty-two kilogram body was solid muscle; Kaden would grow into a hulk of a man. For now though, Drex was right, he still fit over a knee even if he didn't like it. He shuffled his way to the man's right, then as he did the last time, gawkily bent himself across Drex's lap. He put the brush aside when his hands hit the floor. This position was uncomfortable by design! His fingers spread out to stabilise himself, his boots skidded a little until he was able to gain purchase and all the blood was rushing to his head, and that was before Drex had landed a single swat!

Drex, as usual, positioned Kade in a way that guaranteed a maximum of exposure. Then he started spanking with his hand. He was not doing it quite as hard and fast as the last time, but then, Kade was going to be across his lap longer. And he still spanked hard enough to get the boy's attention. This time, he did not lecture – and that was something he only dispensed with when he was very seriously displeased. It was abundantly clear, in Drex's opinion, why Kade was receiving this punishment. He had been blatantly disobedient and it had not even been a spur-of-the-moment thing like the last instance of unauthorised sparring. Drex did not see any need to point out the obvious. He simply spanked and spanked and spanked.

As far as Kade was concerned it hurt just as much as he remembered. He clenched his jaw and grit his teeth, however, no matter what he did, it still hurt like a bastard! Of course it did not help that the man was uncharacteristically silent, which was increasing his dread. "Ahhhh!" he hissed, wriggling as Drex started targeting the same spot, he hated it when adults did that, it hurt ten times as much.

Drex was quite unconcerned with Kade's utterances of pain. The spanking was not doing its job, after all, if it didn't hurt. He started focussing his attention almost exclusively on the lowest part of Kade's bottom and on his upper thighs now, and the force of his spanks was not subsiding in the least.

"Owwwww!" far out it hurt! He hissed, grunted, yelped and writhed through the next minute. He was clutching one of the chair legs to stop himself from skidding forwards with each smack. Unfortunately for him, this left his other hand holding all of his weight which was becoming difficult to maintain considering the circumstances.

Drex's palm was starting to feel the exertion, but he was not at the point where he wanted to give it some rest yet. He moved even lower, focussing his attention on Kade's upper thighs exclusively.

Unable to stop himself the boy let out a wail, the arm that was trembling to hold his weight off Drex coming back in an effort to block the next smack. "Master, p-please, I'm sorry, you've made your point! I won't do it again!" he said through gritted teeth, his face flushed from the rush of blood and eyes filled with unshed tears.

"You have thoroughly earned this, and you will take what's coming to you," Drex said mercilessly. "Put your hands in front of you."

He obeyed, albeit reluctantly, and put his free hand back to rest on the floor. He knew he deserved this despite how much it hurt, although he was doing his best to tough it out. He had given up trying to hold his weight off the man and had resorted to fisting the rug in one hand while hanging on to the chair leg for grim death. Again the boy yelped, writhed and grunted until he could stand it no longer and, much to his shame, started crying.

It was at this point that Drex stopped, but only to tell Kaden: "Pick up the hairbrush and give it to me. And then put your hands on your back. I will hold them for you."

Drex very much doubted that Kade was going to be able to keep his hands in front of himself while receiving a solid dose of the hairbrush on his already rather sore bottom, and he did not want to risk hitting the boy's hands accidentally.

By this time Kade was doing his best to squash his cries. Nevertheless, he picked up the brush, twisted awkwardly and placed it in the man's outstretched hand, only to balk at his next order. "N-no! Master, don't! Not like that!" he blurted, releasing his death grip on the chair and planting both palms flat on the floor in front of himself. "You don't have to!"

"You will leave that up to me to decide," Drex told him. "Do as you're told. Any further backtalk or refusal to comply with my instructions will earn you some strokes with my belt after you have received your hairbrush spanking."

Students tended to underestimate Drex; his mild manners, his general friendliness and calmness made them come to the conclusion that the man was quite easy-going. Which he was, up to a certain limit. If that limit was crossed, he was nothing if not strict. And right now, he was on his strictest because if there was one thing he did not want to leave any room for, it was disobedience with respect to the terms of a punishment. Kaden was currently learning this the hard way since in Drex's opinion, there was no easy way to effectively teach that lesson.

"I can't," the boy sobbed, but otherwise did not talk back; it was bad enough that Drex chose to put him across his knee in the first place, let alone having to endure the humiliation of being pinned there like a toddler. The boy's temper flared and he wanted to push himself up, but he controlled it.

"That will be three with the belt, then," said Drex, quite calmly. He brought the hairbrush down onto Kade's bottom twice in quick succession with considerable gusto.

"Your hands," he ordered in a tone of voice that was level, but clearly conveyed the impression that he was not going to back down. Kade still had not got over the habit of thinking that he was the one running the show. He needed to be disabused of that notion.

"AHhhHouchh!" Kaden yelled, his hands flying back to protect himself and, unwittingly, forcing him to comply. Truth be told, he didn't know what was worse, the pronouncement, having Drex pin his hands, or those two smacks. He was fast realising that if he didn't do as he was told, Drex was probably going to continue upping the ante. That was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

Drex took hold of Kade's hands and pinned them against the boy's back deftly. Then he raised the hairbrush with his right and brought it down again with so much force that the room practically reverberated with the impact. Without giving Kade much of a chance to react, he repeated the process.

"YeoWchhh! Owwah! Master, N-no!" Kade howled. Panicking, he immediately started writhing in an effort to break the man's hold, an impossibility given the position Drex had him pinned into. There was no way he could take much more of that, at least not without completely losing his shit.

Kaden was not in much of a position to tough it out, though; it was a mystery to Drex why he even kept trying, but then, it was nothing new to him that the boy's pride kept getting in his way. He brought the hairbrush down again and again. If the last paddling Kade had received had been hard, this one was harder. Drex did not hold back much, nor did he give the impression that he was about to stop any time soon.

Kade had given up on any notion of toughing it out about five smacks ago, and was now yelling, kicking and struggling worse than any five-year-old youngling. The boy had never felt anything like this before, it was truly awful, and he was doing anything and everything to get his ass away from that brush. It seemed that the more he fought, the more it hurt! It did not take many more before he completely lost it. He hung his head, let his body go limp and howled into Drex's pant leg.

Unlike the last time, Drex did not stop at that point. He dealt out at least ten more swats, and although they were not quite as hard as the previous ones, he doubted that Kade was going to notice the difference, given the state of his bottom. He wanted Kade to really remember this when he next felt tempted to ignore the restrictions his master had set for him, especially since Drex somehow doubted that this was the last time he was going to place restrictions on his padawan's use of a lightsaber. When he was done, he laid the hairbrush onto the table and waited. He did not loosen his hold on Kade's hands yet, however.

Just when the boy was sure he had howled himself hoarse and the Jedi living around them were about to burst through the door expecting to find a body, Drex stopped, not that his bottom could tell. Kade tried pulling himself together, really he did, but it took the boy a solid minute before he had stopped outright bawling and managed to swipe the mass of snot streaming from his nose onto his shoulder. "P-ple-eease. Mast-ter. Lem-me up," he sobbed out through hiccoughing breaths and tried to tug his hands free; he was desperate for the privacy of his room, desperate to get away from the shame and humiliation of being reduced to a bawling youngling.

Unfortunately for Kaden, Drex had raised three padawans and, while being a compassionate person, had gotten over feeling bad about such moments long ago.

"I might have granted that request, had you not made the unwise decision to disobey my explicit instructions, even after having been warned," he said calmly. "I still have three strokes with my belt to mete out. I will release your hands now. You put them on the ground and stay where you are."

"N-no, p-please," Kaden pleaded. There was no way he could take another three of anything flying at his ass, least of all a belt. With his hands now free the boy swiped at the trail of snot that was itching his nose and running into his hair, then put his hands on the ground. "Please. Don't do it. I-I'm sor-ree! I w-won't ever do. I-it again!" he promised, and right then Kade honest to the Force meant every word; he was never going to disobey his master ever again, ever!

"Well, you shouldn't have done it the first time, nor the second," Drex replied, unfazed. "I don't break my promises, padawan. If you don't want additional swats, you simply need to rid yourself of the illusion that you have any say in if and how you are punished."

Much to his horror, Kade let out a heart-broken whine at Drex's words. He had never 'whined' over a punishment before, but neither could he stop himself.

While Drex talked, he had unfastened his belt, detached his saber and utilities, carefully let them slide onto the floor and folded the belt in two.

Kaden tightened up like a drum, his cries starting anew as he saw first one, then another lightsaber slide onto the floor, followed by a pouch of utilities; this was just not happening, he thought. However, the sound of leather being pulled through belt loops convinced him otherwise. It was happening and there wasn't a thing he could do about it.

Not seeing any need to drag this out any further, Drex brought the belt down onto Kade's bottom thrice in quick succession. He did not put all that much force behind the blows, but they were still bound to hurt.

When that first lick landed across his scorched ass, it animated the boy in a way he had never experienced before. He let out a wail that would have been heard three corridors away. That wail mingled into a strangled howl and eventually dissolved into sobbing as the next two connected. It was too much for Kade, he simply couldn't withstand it. His hand flew back in an uncontrolled effort at self-preservation; he really couldn't help it!

Fortunately, by the time Kaden's hand flew back, Drex was already done with the third; he had intentionally dealt them out rather fast because he had known it would be impossible for Kade to maintain his position otherwise.

"Well, that's over with," he said with a sigh. Even though he had no qualms over punishing his padawans when they misbehaved, he did not enjoy having to do it either.

He helped Kaden up, handed him a couple of handkerchiefs and told him: "I want you to pick a corner, put your nose in it and think about why you just earned such a harsh punishment. Five minutes. I'll tell you when your time is up."

By the time Drex was helping him up, Kaden was once again bawling. Nevertheless he accepted the ball of handkerchiefs and, without meeting the man's eye, kicked off his trousers and shorts. He was in a world of hurt right now and, modesty be damned, nothing was touching his ass, not even his undershorts.

Pick a CORNER!? He had to be joking! Fuck, he wasn't joking. Fortunately for Kaden, he was bawling too much to voice his horror, and, well, hiding his face in a corner was preferable to bawling his eyes out in front of Drex, even if the man couldn't see his face.

Drex was entirely aware that the only thing Kaden currently wanted was to flee to his room and hide, but Drex did not want him to do that before the punishment had well and truly sunk in.

Kade had just experienced the hiding of his life and as far as he was concerned, it was never going to happen again. Not ever! Hence, and despite feeling like he was being treated like a two year old, he obeyed.

It was hard to stand, especially when his ass seemed to have developed its very own heartbeat. It took quite some effort to keep his hands at his sides, but he managed, even if he was fidgeting.

Drex did not mind fidgeting, nor was he usually one for making his adolescent padawans stand in a corner, not even for the symbolic period of five minutes. In this particular case, though, he felt that Kaden needed to be shown his place. He was not a grown-up man yet and was not going to be one for quite a few years to come; he should not be allowed to pretend that he was. Refusing Kaden the privilege of withdrawing to his room and hiding from the humiliation of the whole situation simply served to drive this point home.

When the five minutes were up, he told Kaden: "You may go to your room now if you wish. For half an hour. When I knock on your door, I expect you back in the common room."

By the time Kade was released from the corner his face was burning with shame; Drex was treating him like a youngling when in fact he was a man, or so he had thought. Truth was, he felt anything but manly as he grabbed his shorts and trousers from the floor and limped into his bedroom, red-faced and sniffling.

Like last time, once safely in the privacy of his room, Kade fell onto the bed and cried into his pillow. He had known it was wrong to disobey, but had honestly not expected anything like this, especially from his easy-going, placid master. He twisted to inspect the state of his bottom and winced: t was bright red all over with three distinct welts, and it hurt like nothing else. "Ahhhh!" the boy hissed quietly. The skin was beginning to itch in places and his scorched pain receptors were firing off randomly, causing him to wince.

Rubbing was absolutely out of the question. He pulled off his tunic, walked into his refresher and flicked the shower to cold; the boy would swear that actual steam rose as the water hit his ass. It was soothing, though, so he stayed in for a bit longer than he might have otherwise, then took his time finding the most comfortable pair of sleep pants he owned, discarding several pairs before finding the ones he was looking for. He gave his hair a rough towel dry, leaving the top a spiky mess, then redid his braid.

He was just about to slump back onto his bed to sulk when Drex knocked at his door. The boy groaned. He didn't want to face his master yet; he wasn't ready. Sighing, he stood, because if there was one thing he wasn't going to do ever again, it was disobey Drex.

Drex was sitting in an armchair. He said: "I assume you don't feel like sitting; lie down on the sofa if you like. It's not as if I can see you anyway. I want to talk to you, though. Before we get to the rest of your punishment, I would like to know whether you have any idea why I'm coming down on you so hard."

Kade stood stiffly. Of course he knew his master did not see him physically, but after they had formed their training bond, Drex did have an uncanny ability to sense his actions, something that the boy was not used to. He balked at hearing that Drex planned to punish him further, but it wasn't the first time he'd received an extended punishment; his crèche master thought they were particularly effective.

Kade blew out a long breath. "Because I disobeyed," he said quietly, swiping sweaty palms against his sleep pants before wrapping them around his bare chest, as if the action would somehow help hold him together.

Drex was silent for a moment. He was not regretful over the punishment he was meting out, but that was no reason not to offer comfort. Thus, he rose and hugged Kade against his chest.

"Padawan, you were forbidden from using a lightsaber for a reason," he said quietly. "It was your punishment for engaging in an unauthorised lightsaber duel. If you are punished in such a way, you are supposed to accept that punishment and learn from it. Your refusal to do so showed me that you were not taking it seriously at all. So I decided to mete out a punishment that you will not be able to forget that easily. Do you understand?"

For once Kaden didn't simply accept the offered comfort, he really appreciated it, and even if only for a moment, the boy was able to bury his head in Drex's tunic and forget that he was too old for this sort of thing. "I know, and yes, I understand," Kade sighed, and reluctantly pushed away from his master's embrace. "I really am sorry, Master, I should have dealt with it differently," he concluded, lowering his gaze to the floor.

"Yes, you should have," Drex agreed, resting a friendly hand on Kade's shoulder. "Apology accepted. I sincerely hope you don't do something like this again because, believe me, I won't go one bit easier on you if you do."

Kade smiled very slightly at the comradely hand on his shoulder and was relieved to hear Drex accepted his apology, but he did not comment. Firstly, he couldn't imagine ever enduring anything like this again and secondly, he honestly felt bad for having disobeyed.

"As for the rest of your punishment," Drex continued. "I've already told you that I'm going to keep your saber for two weeks longer than I would otherwise have. Furthermore, since you exploited the unsupervised free time I gave you today, there will be no unsupervised free time for a week. During that week, you will be grounded and will perform community service in every free hour, including the weekend. And I know perfectly well that's a lot of punishment, so you needn't point it out to me."

Kade almost choked.

"But, every free hour! Master, for Force's sake! I'm really sorry that I disobeyed you and I won't ever do it again. But, I'm never gonna sit down as it is, and I have to suffer another two weeks of torture with no lightsaber, don't you think that's enough without taking away the last little bit of enjoyment I had left!" It wasn't really a question; the boy was horrified and couldn't imagine surviving another two weeks, let alone having the first week become nothing more than schoolwork and torture. He crossed his arms, his back becoming rigid with what he perceived as a great injustice.

There was a lot that Drex might have said to that. For one thing, it was not two, but two-and-a-half weeks, actually, because Kade still had a few days of his original sentence left. And he was going to be able to sit down perfectly well once Drex helped him out with some bacta, which he was going to do tonight. And if the whole punishment turned out to be horrifying, it would offer an excellent incentive for Kade not to disobey Drex's orders again. However, Drex voiced none of these thoughts for now. He merely said mildly: "Kaden, march yourself back to the corner and put your nose in it. We can continue this talk when you are ready to be respectful."

Kade's fists balled at his sides, and he clenched his jaw.

"Corner time is for younglings, I am NOT a youngling," he protested, but nevertheless stomped towards the corner as told. It was becoming increasingly obvious to the boy that his master did not deem him as grown-up as he felt.

"Well, you are not an adult yet, that much is certain," Drex said drily. "The sooner you accept that fact, the easier your life is going to be." He went to the kitchen to make some tea, letting his padawan stew in the corner for a while.

The boy bristled, his fists still clenched and back ramrod-straight as he placed his nose in the corner for the second time that day. He stood there for a few minutes before turning his head towards the sounds coming from their kitchen, and kicked at the wall in frustration. He was losing his temper!

"Stop kicking," Drex said firmly, but he otherwise did not seem to pay any attention to Kaden. His padawan was going to stay in the corner until he settled down and showed some contrition. Drex, in the meanwhile, strained his tea, sat down at the table, put on his earphones and continued listening to the report he had started on when Jin-Dai had called.

Kade wanted to pitch a fit the likes of which he'd never managed before, however, much to his horror, just as he was about to let loose, a sniffle escaped instead, and he thumped his head into the wall; he was tired of being punished, tired of being controlled and tired of being treated like a baby. He started crying quietly into the corner, once again feeling every bit like the youngling he was so desperate to leave behind.

Drex sighed, got up, stepped up behind Kade and pulled him into a hug. "Just let it go," he said softly. "Just accept it. You are not in control, and you won't be for quite some time to come. Even when you are knighted, you won't be; not entirely, anyway. This is what you have chosen for yourself. Don't make it so hard on yourself."

Although Kade tried keeping his cries to himself, when Drex approached the boy did his best to put a lid on it. However, the last thing he expected was to be pulled into a hug. "I don't want control, I just don't wanna be treated like a youngling," he sniffled, swiping at his nose with a sleeve. Although as the words left his mouth, they suddenly didn't sound as good as they had in theory; to Drex he probably was a youngling...

"Aww, c'mon, stop lying to yourself," Drex said quietly. "You are treated like a youngling because that's what you are, and you yearn for more control than you have. Well, you have seen what comes out of that, and I doubt you enjoyed it – or will enjoy it much over the coming weeks. Now, you can either struggle against it every step of the way, which is likely to earn you even more punishment, or you can accept it and try to learn from it."

Kade wanted to complain that Drex was being too harsh, that he couldn't take it, and that he had nothing left to be taken away even if he did earn more punishment, but knew what sort of response this would get him so kept it to himself. "How much longer do I have to stay in the corner?" he asked, his tone resigned and shoulders slumping.

"Until you are ready to lose the attitude and stop complaining," Drex said calmly. "How about you reflect on your own behaviour for a change, instead of mine?"

"Alright," Kade replied in resignation, turning to face the corner once again. He hated this, although it wasn't like he had much else to be doing, especially now with every hour of his free time devoted to either community service, homework or some other chore the man came up with. He stood there wallowing in self-pity for a while before the pain in his bottom began making it hard to stay still and he started to calm down.

"Are you ready to talk to me respectfully?" Drex finally asked, sensing that Kade had calmed down somewhat. True repentance was probably too much to expect right now.

"Yes, Master. Sorry" the boy replied. "Can I come out now?" he wanted to know, his sore backside was making standing in one spot more of a chore than it would usually be.

"You may," Drex replied. "I take it you still have school work to do?"

He thought this highly likely since the boy would have had no time to do his homework yet today, but he wanted to make sure.

"A bit, but I'll go do it now," Kade said, guessing that this was what Drex was getting at. Truth be told, he figured it was going to take more than a few minutes of good behaviour on his part to be back in the man's good books, so he took off without protest.

"Yes, go ahead," Drex replied. If the boy was good, Drex was not going to make him start on his community service this very evening; they could do chores in their quarters together and perform an extended evening meditation instead.

In fact, there were different categories of community service, from relatively light and enjoyable tasks (such as reading to sick children or helping the gardeners prune trees and bushes) to outright nasty one (such as scrubbing down fountains or cleaning muck off spaceships). What kind of service Kade would have to perform would depend a lot on him and his behaviour, and Drex explained as much to Kaden when they had dinner. Kade was able to sit by then, thanks to bacta and to a pillow Drex had provided him with.

Still feeling a little embarrassed at sitting on a pillow, but no less grateful, Kade listened to what Drex had to say about the community service. "I guess I only have one question left," he stated sheepishly, a slight grin on his face. "Which category of community service have you signed me up for?"


End file.
